www.digitalmars.com         C & C++   DMDScript  

D - Stackless Python

reply nobody no.where writes:
http://www.stackless.com/

http://www.stackless.com/spcpaper.htm

Continuations and Stackless Python:

"Instead of a direct implementation of coroutines and generators (as C
extensions), I decided to use the most general approach: Implement continuations
as first class callable objects, and express generators and coroutines in
Python."
Jan 18 2004
parent reply Georg Wrede <Georg_member pathlink.com> writes:
In article <buempb$139g$1 digitaldaemon.com>, nobody no.where says...

http://www.stackless.com/
http://www.stackless.com/spcpaper.htm


The spcpaper was pretty deep stuff. I ended up gawking it in awe.

Until I remembered how I felt when I studied my first computer.
(Which I learnt throug-and-throug!) The concept of having one
single stack for the entire machine (bios,os,basic,user programs,
all using the same stack) seemed thoroughly preposterous. 

But that was 20 years ago. Since then I've gotten so used to the
stack concept that I hardly see it anymore, like the air around
me. And I guess everybody here feels the same?

Then this stackless stuff pops up, and again I'm breathless.
To use it, I guess, one has to unlearn 20 years' worth of
stacking. But the rewards may be huge for some sorts of programs.
I think this is like OO, recursion, coroutines, etc., where 
it does take some time before you get a clear picture of what
they could/should be applied to.

If you really can turn a language stackless without breaking
existing programs, then I would't be surprised if D 2.0 suddenly
turns stackless one day!

Incidentally, I vote for not trying this before March!   :-)
Jan 19 2004
parent reply "Bruce Dodson" <bruce_dodson hotmail.com> writes:
I'm a fan of Stackless Python too.  It has changed a lot since that paper
was written, though.

Stackless still has a stack; it's just that the Python stack is decoupled
from the C stack.  This does make some things easier, but it is not really
all that different from Win32 Fibers, in which the "C" stack can be
decoupled from the OS thread's default stack.

"Georg Wrede" <Georg_member pathlink.com> wrote in message
news:buh4fj$234j$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 In article <buempb$139g$1 digitaldaemon.com>, nobody no.where says...

http://www.stackless.com/
http://www.stackless.com/spcpaper.htm


 The spcpaper was pretty deep stuff. I ended up gawking it in awe.

 Until I remembered how I felt when I studied my first computer.
 (Which I learnt throug-and-throug!) The concept of having one
 single stack for the entire machine (bios,os,basic,user programs,
 all using the same stack) seemed thoroughly preposterous.

 But that was 20 years ago. Since then I've gotten so used to the
 stack concept that I hardly see it anymore, like the air around
 me. And I guess everybody here feels the same?

 Then this stackless stuff pops up, and again I'm breathless.
 To use it, I guess, one has to unlearn 20 years' worth of
 stacking. But the rewards may be huge for some sorts of programs.
 I think this is like OO, recursion, coroutines, etc., where
 it does take some time before you get a clear picture of what
 they could/should be applied to.

 If you really can turn a language stackless without breaking
 existing programs, then I would't be surprised if D 2.0 suddenly
 turns stackless one day!

 Incidentally, I vote for not trying this before March!   :-)
Jan 19 2004
parent reply nobody no.where writes:
I'm just trying to inform Walter the possible options to implement
coroutine/generator/continuation in D (if he doesn't know it already).

Georg, as long as you keep your mind open, you will see the light :-) it's not
that deep at all.

Bruce, you said it has changed a lot, can you provide a pointer?  I didn't
follow Stackless Python very closely.


In article <buh8td$2a4h$1 digitaldaemon.com>, Bruce Dodson says...

I'm a fan of Stackless Python too.  It has changed a lot since that paper
was written, though.

Stackless still has a stack; it's just that the Python stack is decoupled
from the C stack.  This does make some things easier, but it is not really
all that different from Win32 Fibers, in which the "C" stack can be
decoupled from the OS thread's default stack.

"Georg Wrede" <Georg_member pathlink.com> wrote in message
news:buh4fj$234j$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 In article <buempb$139g$1 digitaldaemon.com>, nobody no.where says...

http://www.stackless.com/
http://www.stackless.com/spcpaper.htm


 The spcpaper was pretty deep stuff. I ended up gawking it in awe.

 Until I remembered how I felt when I studied my first computer.
 (Which I learnt throug-and-throug!) The concept of having one
 single stack for the entire machine (bios,os,basic,user programs,
 all using the same stack) seemed thoroughly preposterous.

 But that was 20 years ago. Since then I've gotten so used to the
 stack concept that I hardly see it anymore, like the air around
 me. And I guess everybody here feels the same?

 Then this stackless stuff pops up, and again I'm breathless.
 To use it, I guess, one has to unlearn 20 years' worth of
 stacking. But the rewards may be huge for some sorts of programs.
 I think this is like OO, recursion, coroutines, etc., where
 it does take some time before you get a clear picture of what
 they could/should be applied to.

 If you really can turn a language stackless without breaking
 existing programs, then I would't be surprised if D 2.0 suddenly
 turns stackless one day!

 Incidentally, I vote for not trying this before March!   :-)
Jan 19 2004
parent reply Georg Wrede <Georg_member pathlink.com> writes:
In article <buhd3v$2h12$1 digitaldaemon.com>, nobody no.where says...

I'm just trying to inform Walter the possible options to implement
coroutine/generator/continuation in D (if he doesn't know it already).

Georg, as long as you keep your mind open, you will see the light :-) it's not
that deep at all.

Bruce, you said it has changed a lot, can you provide a pointer?  I didn't
follow Stackless Python very closely.
In article <buh8td$2a4h$1 digitaldaemon.com>, Bruce Dodson says...

I'm a fan of Stackless Python too.  It has changed a lot since that paper
was written, though.

Stackless still has a stack; it's just that the Python stack is decoupled
from the C stack.




The recent changes can be found at

http://www.tismer.com/research/stackless/

As I understand it, Stackless does use the C stack for its own 
purposes, but there is no Python stack. Instead it's more like
"a bag of stack frames", of course linked together, but not 
into a hardwired LIFO, as a normal stack.

There are other unexpected things here too:

22-Feb-02: 1,000,000 Switches in 0.6 seconds. I was stunned when 
I measured switching speed on an AMD Athlon XP 1500+ machine. A 
python script switched tasklets 1,000,000 times. The usual Python 
call overhead was included. I measured this without switching and 
got about 0.3 seconds. That means: Context switching by an 
automated, internal scheduler without the interpreter overhead 
comes at the same cost as a Python function call.

22-Feb-02: 100,000 Tasklets in 80 MB. Right now I'm designing 
tasklets, which are the interface objects for coroutines, 
microthreads, however you name them. A tasklet wraps a chain of 
Python frames and a piece of the C stack -- the piece that will 
be needed to restart the tasklet. Today, I tested a Win32 release 
build and created 100,000 tasklets. The application's size grew 
to 80 MB. That is: A tasklet doesn't cost much more than 800 bytes.
Jan 19 2004
parent "Bruce Dodson" <bruce_dodson hotmail.com> writes:
That's about it.  When you call a function, the parts of Python that don't
know it's Stackless still see that as pushing values onto a stack; so in
that sense there is a stack.  But as you say it's not really a stack in the
classic sense, since the stack frames can be rearranged arbitrarily.  I
don't really know (or feel a need to understand) the details; I just like
what it can do.

"Georg Wrede" <Georg_member pathlink.com> wrote in message
news:buhirt$2qa1$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 The recent changes can be found at

 http://www.tismer.com/research/stackless/

 As I understand it, Stackless does use the C stack for its own
 purposes, but there is no Python stack. Instead it's more like
 "a bag of stack frames", of course linked together, but not
 into a hardwired LIFO, as a normal stack.

 There are other unexpected things here too:

 22-Feb-02: 1,000,000 Switches in 0.6 seconds. I was stunned when
 I measured switching speed on an AMD Athlon XP 1500+ machine. A
 python script switched tasklets 1,000,000 times. The usual Python
 call overhead was included. I measured this without switching and
 got about 0.3 seconds. That means: Context switching by an
 automated, internal scheduler without the interpreter overhead
 comes at the same cost as a Python function call.

 22-Feb-02: 100,000 Tasklets in 80 MB. Right now I'm designing
 tasklets, which are the interface objects for coroutines,
 microthreads, however you name them. A tasklet wraps a chain of
 Python frames and a piece of the C stack -- the piece that will
 be needed to restart the tasklet. Today, I tested a Win32 release
 build and created 100,000 tasklets. The application's size grew
 to 80 MB. That is: A tasklet doesn't cost much more than 800 bytes.
Jan 19 2004