I built a hardware processor that runs Python

Re:I built a hardware processor that runs Python by Jean-Papoulos on Monday April 28, 2025 @08:51AM (#43820966)

>PyXL is a custom hardware processor that executes Python directly — no interpreter, no JIT, and no tricks. It takes regular Python code and runs it in silicon.

So, no using C libraries. That takes out a huge chunck of pip packages...

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Re:I built a hardware processor that runs Python by hwpythonner on Monday April 28, 2025 @08:58AM (#43821035)

You're absolutely right — today, PyXL only supports pure Python execution, so C extensions aren’t directly usable.

That said, in future designs, PyXL could work in tandem with a traditional CPU core (like ARM or RISC-V), where C libraries execute on the CPU side and interact with PyXL for control flow and Python-level logic.

There’s also a longer-term possibility of compiling C directly to PyXL’s instruction set by building an LLVM backend — allowing even tighter integration without a second CPU.

Right now the focus is on making native Python execution viable and efficient for real-time and embedded systems, but I definitely see broader hybrid models ahead.

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