The development team behind the alternative Python runtime Pyston has surprisingly presented version 2.0. The open source project, originally based on Dropbox, is designed as a fork of CPython and, like PyPy, is based on just-in-time compilation (JIT). The new release promises up to 20 percent higher speed compared to CPython. For this purpose, the creators have replaced the previous compiler infrastructure LLVM with DynASM.

People believed dead live longer Since Dropbox withdrew its support for the further development of Pyston a good three years ago, the future of the project has been in the dark. With some fundamental technical innovations, the Python implementation, which a part of the original development team around Kevin Modzelewski has now published, is supposed to bring a breath of fresh air and make CPython competition. Instead of the previously used LLVM JIT engine, Pyston 2.0 uses the dynamic assembler DynASM. The engine for generating assembler, freely available under MIT license, was originally developed as a tool for LuaJIT, but is now also intended to help Pyston – or Python – achieve more speed.

The developers also make use of the most important optimizations of CPython, including caching attributes. Thanks to the full compatibility with the C API from CPython, Pyston should also score points against runtimes such as PyPy, which also rely on JIT compilation. The lower memory requirement gives Pyston performance advantages with regard to applications for the widely used web frameworks Django and Flask.

Pyston is closed source – at least for the time being Further information on Pyston 2.0 including some benchmark results can be found in the blog post about the publication of the release. The runtime is now available in ready-made packages for Ubuntu 18. 04 and 20. 04 x 86 _ 64 available on GitHub. The developers want to support other operating systems on request. Unlike Pyston up to the previous version 0.6.1, Release 2.0 is no longer available as an open source under the Apache 2.0 license, but is at least temporarily closed source. The team justifies this limitation by citing the high cost of compiler development and the lack of a benevolent sponsor like Dropbox has been in the past. A final new business model has yet to be found, emphasizes Modzelewski in his announcement.

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