The Minimal
Python project looks mighty interesting. There doesn't appear to be a website
for the effort yet. The basic outline of the project was given in the
announcement:
We announce a mailinglist dedicated to developing
a "Minimal Python" version. Minimal means that
we want to have a very small C-core and as much
as possible (re)implemented in python itself. This
includes (parts of) the VM-Code.
Building on the expected gains in flexibility
we also hope to use distribution techniques such
as PEP302 to ship only a minimal set of modules
and load needed modules on demand.
As Armin Rigo of PSYCO fame takes part in the effort,
we are confident that MinimalPython will eventually
run faster than today's CPython.
And because Christian Tismer takes part, we are
confident that we will find a radical enough
approach which also fits Stackless :-)
We are very interested in learning about and
integrating prior art. And in hearing any
doubtful or reinforcing opinions. Expertise
is welcomed in all areas.
The project certainly sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm definitely
going to try to keep up to date with their progress...
Rachel and I bought our house in April 2002. One of the reasons we bought it
was for its large grounds (not huge, but for our budget it's large). It has
an existing well-developed garden that we quite liked too. Not too much lawn,
and no really offensive plants. Generally low maintenance.
A couple of months in we noticed the ivy and jasmine doing their best
kudzu impressions. Some of the more "recent" plants weren't doing so well (it
has become obvious that some were planted just before the sale, and in not
very intelligent places). A few months in, our neighbours renovated their
house and garden. This included removing a large tree that was shading our
fernery, and removing the ivy from their side of the fence.
Prior to owning a house, we'd both either a) lived in a house where one or
more parents looked after the garden, and usually quite well, or b) lived in a
rental property where either the owner didn't care about the garden or they
cared enough about it to look after it themselves. In the half year that
we've had to come to terms with the garden here, we've learnt a lot about
what a garden needs, and in particular what we need to do to the garden to
make it work better.
Now we've got a fernery that needs moving, a pile of ivy and jasmine to get
rid of (half
of which is dead and hanging loosly from the fence), several bushes that have
gotten a bit too enthusiastic that we have to chop back and ... well, the
latest hit us today. It's been really and dry here (most of Australia is
officially in drought) and we were making real moves to help our the ferns. Off
we go to the plant nursery (for the first time, I might add) to buy the
ingredients of the new fernery bed. When we arrive home, we notice that the
daisy beds at the front of the house are black. Not brown, but dead black. A
day ago, they seemed fine (or we would have noticed, I'm sure). Looks like
we have a whole lot more to learn about owning a garden...
