5 ms·

Pypy wants you - now's the time to start contributing to Pypy

179 points by djipko 16y ago

gawker 16y ago
I'd love to contribute (been looking for a Python project to contribute all this while) but I'm fairly new and haven't much a clue. I guess the best way to start is to get the project and play around with it but I was hoping if you have any advice?
- djipko 16y ago
  This is exactly why this thing caught my eye. And this is not just a python project, but an interpreter for the language, so should give you a great experience with the language itself.
- kingkilr 16y ago
  Jump into #pypy on freenode, we're mostly working on getting our 2.7 implementation passing all tests (we merged that branch into defaul this week), so there are various tasks in: fixing our implementation of stdlib modules, interpreter level fixes, new methods on builtin types, and other sorts of things!
  - PureSin 16y ago
    read through some of the wiki. Guess I'll jump into the irc channel this weekend and ask questions as I go? Will people assign specific test/task to me or do I just pick a few?
agentultra 16y ago
I've tried finding something to nibble on in PyPy for a while. I'll definitely give this a look-see over the weekend.
carlosedp 16y ago
It would be great to have the JIT and Stackless features together.
baltcode 16y ago
Does this also entail developing the rpython translator/compiler? Statically typed python is something I'm really interested in.
marquis 16y ago
I clicked away when I saw the logo of Uncle Sam - that image references both a call to war and a US bias. Just wanted to point out my response, but other than that good luck with the project.
- vietor 16y ago
  > and a US bias If you'd stuck around you might have noticed that the project is, essentially, European. The main contributers all live there, they receive funding through Eurostars, and I don't remember any of their gatherings/sprints being held outside of Europe. In the future you might want to watch that knee-jerk reaction, it can put your foot right in your mouth. Given the history and imagery of "Uncle Sam", it becoming the equivalent of a genericized trademark cracks me up and makes me marvel at the longevity of a well crafted marketing shtick.
  - marquis 16y ago
    I did read the site further, and realised quickly it wasn't a US-centric group. I am by far a reactionary person and if it made me initially click away, I felt it was better to make a comment so the author could see it, rather than keeping it myself - considering the post is calling for collaboration. The use of the image has remained culturally strong because of the many brilliant satirical treatments it has received, not because it is a powerful signifier calling for people to work together.
    - starpilot 16y ago
      You need to get out more.
  - VB6_Forever 16y ago
    Which came first, the Uncle Sam image or this one? http://www.sterlingtimes.org/kitchener.jpg http://www.sterlingtimes.org/kitchener.jpg
    - sp332 16y ago
yycom 16y ago
It seems to me that pypy is the obvious candidate for blessing as the new reference implementation (because it is self-hosted), but I never see any mention of this being so, with most next-gen effort still being spent on 3.x and CPython. Why is this so?
- kingkilr 16y ago
  2 reasons IMO: 1) We don't have Python3 support yet, we're working towards it, but we're behind some. Have the reference implementation be a regression over the previous one doesn't make much sense. 2) We don't have enough users. And honorable mention reason: RPython is an... interesting language to program, something like a cross between C, Python, Java, with error messages from MUMPS.
  - jbellis 16y ago
    > error messages from MUMPS Is fixing that tractable? Cryptic error messages is one of the most frustrating turn-offs to new would-be contributors. /probably one of the few people here who has written MUMPS code
    - smanek 16y ago
      heh, epic alum?
      - jb3 16y ago
        I'm currently at epic, but I know there are other companies still using the language.
    - jb3 16y ago
      Of all the things that I dislike about MUMPS, error messages aren't anywhere near the top of the list.
    - kingkilr 16y ago
      Yes, it probably is. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation though, everyone who knows RPython well enough to make the changes can already understand the errors just fine.

179 points by djipko 16y ago

I'd love to contribute (been looking for a Python project to contribute all this while) but I'm fairly new and haven't much a clue. I guess the best way to start is to get the project and play around with it but I was hoping if you have any advice?

djipko 16y ago
This is exactly why this thing caught my eye. And this is not just a python project, but an interpreter for the language, so should give you a great experience with the language itself.
kingkilr 16y ago
Jump into #pypy on freenode, we're mostly working on getting our 2.7 implementation passing all tests (we merged that branch into defaul this week), so there are various tasks in: fixing our implementation of stdlib modules, interpreter level fixes, new methods on builtin types, and other sorts of things!
- PureSin 16y ago
  read through some of the wiki. Guess I'll jump into the irc channel this weekend and ask questions as I go? Will people assign specific test/task to me or do I just pick a few?

agentultra 16y ago

I've tried finding something to nibble on in PyPy for a while. I'll definitely give this a look-see over the weekend.

carlosedp 16y ago

It would be great to have the JIT and Stackless features together.

baltcode 16y ago

Does this also entail developing the rpython translator/compiler? Statically typed python is something I'm really interested in.

marquis 16y ago

I clicked away when I saw the logo of Uncle Sam - that image references both a call to war and a US bias. Just wanted to point out my response, but other than that good luck with the project.

vietor 16y ago
> and a US bias If you'd stuck around you might have noticed that the project is, essentially, European. The main contributers all live there, they receive funding through Eurostars, and I don't remember any of their gatherings/sprints being held outside of Europe. In the future you might want to watch that knee-jerk reaction, it can put your foot right in your mouth. Given the history and imagery of "Uncle Sam", it becoming the equivalent of a genericized trademark cracks me up and makes me marvel at the longevity of a well crafted marketing shtick.
- marquis 16y ago
  I did read the site further, and realised quickly it wasn't a US-centric group. I am by far a reactionary person and if it made me initially click away, I felt it was better to make a comment so the author could see it, rather than keeping it myself - considering the post is calling for collaboration. The use of the image has remained culturally strong because of the many brilliant satirical treatments it has received, not because it is a powerful signifier calling for people to work together.
  - starpilot 16y ago
    You need to get out more.
- VB6_Forever 16y ago
  Which came first, the Uncle Sam image or this one? http://www.sterlingtimes.org/kitchener.jpg http://www.sterlingtimes.org/kitchener.jpg
  - sp332 16y ago

yycom 16y ago

It seems to me that pypy is the obvious candidate for blessing as the new reference implementation (because it is self-hosted), but I never see any mention of this being so, with most next-gen effort still being spent on 3.x and CPython. Why is this so?

kingkilr 16y ago
2 reasons IMO: 1) We don't have Python3 support yet, we're working towards it, but we're behind some. Have the reference implementation be a regression over the previous one doesn't make much sense. 2) We don't have enough users. And honorable mention reason: RPython is an... interesting language to program, something like a cross between C, Python, Java, with error messages from MUMPS.
- jbellis 16y ago
  > error messages from MUMPS Is fixing that tractable? Cryptic error messages is one of the most frustrating turn-offs to new would-be contributors. /probably one of the few people here who has written MUMPS code
  - smanek 16y ago
    heh, epic alum?
    - jb3 16y ago
      I'm currently at epic, but I know there are other companies still using the language.
  - jb3 16y ago
    Of all the things that I dislike about MUMPS, error messages aren't anywhere near the top of the list.
  - kingkilr 16y ago
    Yes, it probably is. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation though, everyone who knows RPython well enough to make the changes can already understand the errors just fine.