I built a hardware processor that runs Python

Re:I built a hardware processor that runs Python by yanniszark on Monday April 28, 2025 @11:52AM (#43822848)

Great work! :D I had a question about that though. Instead of compiling to PySM, why not compile directly to a real assembly like ARM? Is the PySM assembly very special to accomodate python features in a way that can't be done efficiently in existing architectures like ARM?

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Re:I built a hardware processor that runs Python by hwpythonner on Monday April 28, 2025 @12:36PM (#43823317)

Thanks — appreciate it!

Good question. In theory, you can compile anything Turing-complete to anything else — ARM and Python are both Turing-complete. But practically, Python's model (dynamic typing, deep use of the stack) doesn't map cleanly onto ARM's register-based, statically-typed instruction set. PySM is designed to match Python’s structure much more naturally — it keeps the system efficient, simpler to pipeline, and avoids needing lots of extra translation layers.

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