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Comment by blahgeek | Hacker News Reader

Reminds me of Cython vs CPython

What is cpython? I don't think I've heard of this one before.

Edit: it's just python. People are pretending like other attempts to implement this are on equal footing

CPython (the compiler) is the most popular implementation of Python (the language) like GCC, Clang, and MSVC (compilers) are implementations of C (the language). Other Python implementations include PyPy, Jython, and IronPython.

Nobody is "pretending" anything. These have all been around for 15+ years at this point. Your ignorance does not imply intent to deceive on others part.

saying the most popular hides the actual reason why it is popular though. it is the original python implementation. it defines the standard and functions a reference for all others. for better or for worse other implementations have to be bug-compatible with it, and that is what puts them not on equal footing.

for C compilers no reference implementation exists. the C standard was created out of multiple existing implementations.

The project has self described as CPython for many years.

It’s literally the name of the repo [1].

There’s no grounding to feign surprise or concern anymore.

Moreover, I have used PyPy for years to beat the pants off CPython programs.

[1] https://github.com/python/cpython

PyPy is a JIT-compiled implementation of a language called RPython which is a restricted subset of Python. It does not and has never attempted to implement Python or replace your CPython interpreter for most intents and purposes. CPython is the official reference implementation of the Python language and what you probably use if you write Python code and don't understand the difference between a programming language and its implementations (which is fine)

This doesn't sound right. PyPy has always been described as an alternative implementation of Python that could in some cases be a drop-in replacement for CPython (AKA standard Python) that could speed up production workloads. Underneath that is the RPython toolchain, but that's not what most people are talking about when they talk about PyPy.

Exactly correct. PyPy is a replacement for CPython 3.11, which aims to be fully compatible with pure Python code (C extensions are a more complicated story).

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