Sunday, March 16, 2008

The next step to increase Python compatability in Jython

Last night at PyCon, at the Jython dinner (thanks goes to Sun for feeding us), we followed up a discussion from earlier during the day about Python and concurrency. We realized that CPython is far ahead of us in this area, and that we are lacking in compatibility. After serious brainstorming (and a few glasses of wine), we decided that introducing a Global Interpreter Lock in Jython would solve the entire issue! I hacked together an implementation, while we were having coffee, that is now in trunk. To ensure that this does not break any old code written for Jython the GIL is added as a future feature. To get GIL support today, check out the Jython trunk, start the interpreter, then type:
from __future__ import GIL
Happy hacking!