14 October 2005 18:30
Continuations And Stackless Python
by bcpbcpIn this paper, an implementation of "Stackless Python" (a Python which does not keep state on the C stack) is presented. Surprisingly, the necessary changes affect just a small number of C modules, and a major rewrite of the C library can be avoided. The key idea in this approach is a paradigm change for the Python code interpreter that is not easy to understand in the first place. Recursive interpreter calls are turned into tail recursion, which allows deferring evaluation by pushing frames to the frame stack, without the C stack involved.
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