[Info-vax] Python for x86?

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/11/2023 6:45 PM, Craig A. Berry wrote:
> On 4/11/23 8:23 AM, Simon Clubley wrote:
>> On 2023-04-08, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at avanthar.avanthar.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks for the confirmation.  I thought that was the case, but wasn't 
>>> sure
>>> if I was simply looking in the wrong place.  These days Python is pretty
>>> much a requirement.  Even IBM z/OS supports Python 3 now.
>>
>> And for very good reason. Python is an excellent scripting language
>> that is suitable for a _wide_ range of scripting tasks.
>>
>> In fact, if VSI had to choose one only, I would have said that Python,
>> instead of Perl, should have been the one that's part of the base
>> installation. (Although it would be better to have both of them as
>> part of the base installation.)
> 
> I don't think there was any such choice and I agree that having a Python
> package available is essential.  I'm not sure why Python isn't available
> yet.  The native C and C++ compilers are still in field test state and
> have long lists of known issues, so it's possible the dependencies just
> aren't there quite yet to build CPython.
> 
> Perl is available because I built it with the cross tools kit and VSI
> repackaged and signed it with my blessing.  That means, among other
> things, that you can't build Perl extensions with the native compilers
> until Perl itself is built with them.  Building Perl with the native
> compilers is well under way but not quite there yet.  Perl and its test
> suite have a way of revealing bugs in the C compiler, the CRTL, and even
> the OS itself occasionally.

Python is way more popular than Perl today, so we know it is not
a business priority.

It could be a technical dependency problem as you describe.

But it could also be an estimated effort problem. It is my impression
that Perl is evolving reasonable slowly and that the VMS port has
been rock solid for decades. And all versions has been build
for both Alpha and Itanium. That sort of make it easier to
port and know what is a source problem and what is a tool problem.
Python situation is a bit more uncertain. The Python language is
evolving pretty quickly as they have joined the arms race with
C++/Java/C#/PHP about having most features. And first JFP did 2.x on
both Alpha and Itanium, then JFP did a 3.x on Itanium only and finally
VSI did a 3.x on Itanium only. As we speak (hmm, write) there is an
outstanding question on VSI Python over on the VSI forum. I suspect that
an estimate for Python port to x86-64 would be much higher than the Perl
one.

Arne

PS: And a million thanks to the people that have worked on Perl and
     Python over the years!!