Re:Grumpy: Go running Python
by jerf on Wednesday January 04, 2017 @01:09PM
(#13320569)
A huge part of the reason Python (and Perl, PHP, etc. in their original interpreters) is so slow is that it is like running a Go program that does everything through runtime reflection, even just to add two integers. If your code is already in Python, this level of performance is apparently not a problem for you.
If you know Go or are willing to learn about Go and reflection, you can learn a lot about how dynamic languages work under the hood by implementing:
using the reflect module to accept all types of numbers, including for a bit of extra fun the math.Big* number types, and returning upgraded numbers as appropriate, or panicking on types you can't Add with. That's not all there is to writing a dynamic language interpreter, but I'd say you can learn the core idea this way, shorn away from a lot of accidental complexity and with a lot of the grunt work plumbing of setting up (type, value) pairs already done for you.
If you know Go or are willing to learn about Go and reflection, you can learn a lot about how dynamic languages work under the hood by implementing:
using the reflect module to accept all types of numbers, including for a bit of extra fun the math.Big* number types, and returning upgraded numbers as appropriate, or panicking on types you can't Add with. That's not all there is to writing a dynamic language interpreter, but I'd say you can learn the core idea this way, shorn away from a lot of accidental complexity and with a lot of the grunt work plumbing of setting up (type, value) pairs already done for you.