CPython

We dig into a post from Brett Cannon about reproducible builds in Python.

It covers the importance of creating an independently verifiable, repeatable build of CPython and other associated tools.

The post explains why Python isn't there yet, and the direction of the work still needed.

We also share several other articles and projects from the Python community, including recent releases, upcoming PSF elections, PolarDB versus SQL differences nobody is talking about, creating Django unsubscribe links without a login, a library to make measurement units easier through Pydantic, and a tool to convert if-else code to match statements.

So, uh, yeah, they're taking a very interesting approach here.

Cool.

The next bit of news is the addition of RISC-V, which is what Wikipedia says is the way to pronounce what I've always called RISC-V, as a supported architecture for CPython.

If you're not familiar, RISC-V is an open source instruction set that defines how a CPU works.

And CircuitPython tries to conform as much as possible with

CPython or desktop Python.

Smica shares his motivation for creating PicoGame and that he had a PicoPad that you see on the screen here, a checkmate handheld gaming device that uses an RP2040.

The PicoPad has a picture of a Defender-like game on it, and Smica tried to recreate it, but found DisplayIO too slow.

Yeah, watch the video for sure.

And like you mentioned, I love the fact that she was able to take Python code and port it to CircuitPython.

Like I mentioned earlier, CircuitPython tries to conform as much to CPython as it can.

And that's just one of the benefits is that portability, which

Blinka is our compatibility layer for CircuitPython on single board computers like Raspberry Pi.

So this is a Python packets that runs under regular Python, also known as CPython, under Linux, and it emulates CircuitPython code.

So it has things like board and digital IO in it that are not part of regular Python, but it makes the Linux computer that you're using support those things.

So it's really handy.

The community showed excitement for upcoming observations and the collaboration of multiple space telescopes, but also shared cynicism about future budget cuts and misallocated resources.

Title, RISC-V is now officially supported by CPython.

Python Insider.

The news story announced that RISC-V is now a Tier 3 supported platform in CPython, marking a step forward for open instruction set architectures.

The support came after community efforts, real hardware testing, and contributions from the RISE project and others.

The story outlined plans to improve testing, move toward Tier 2 support, and explore architecture-specific optimizations, encouraging users with RISC-V hardware to test CPython and provide feedback.

In the comments, the community generally viewed the move as positive, but noted that Tier 3 support still meant limited reliability and priority.

Some questioned RISC-V's current use and fragmentation, comparing it to other architectures with diverse extensions like x86 and ARM.

So what is the link between Python, well you know what Python is, MicroPython and Python OS then?

Yeah, so what we know from the desktop world is CPython.

So that's Python that works on laptops and supercomputers even for scientific calculations.

That's a great programming language.

Yeah

... as, like, the CPython interpreter, um, because they have a lot of users.

Um, and, and they're, they're very, uh, responsive and they have a-- Both Astral and, uh, Pyrefly have Discord servers that they invite people to come in-

Mm-hmm

Uh, this is the one non-webby, uh, thing on here, but could have a web implication.

So the Python Software Foundation has announced RISC-V support is now officially supported by CPython.

Why would anyone care? Uh, so I'll get into that.

Uh, so RISC-V is a, a CPU architecture, uh, and it's technically...

Uh, so yeah, like the RISC-V is, is, it's an open architecture that anyone can implement, uh, unlike the x86 and ARM, which are, like, closed.

Uh, but its market is projected to quadruple by 2032, so we expect to see more news about RISC-V architectures and processors, uh, especially given all the hype around GPUs and things like that right now.

Uh, so what changes? Uh, the approach now maintained with a compa- compatibility target, uh, CPython changes are gonna be less likely to quietly break it.

That means that they gotta take care of it.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to go from picking up Python as a college hobby to being personally mentored by Guido van Rossum and ultimately implementing one of the most controversial features in Python history? In this episode, I had a chance with Emily Morehouse.

Emily is a CPython core developer, a former member of the Python steering council, ESF fellow, and the co-founder and director of Engineering at Apple's software development agency.

He holds three degrees from Florida State University in Computer Science, Theater and Criminology and got started in Python just because it was more fun than C++.

If someone had told you 10 or 15 years

And how to get involved with core development? And someone would like to contribute either to documentation or to the code base, for example, what are the best first steps?

Yeah, so everyone sort of points you to like the dev guide online.

There's a ton of resources and how to get started, whether it's editing documentation or, you know, getting CPython built and running locally on your machine.

But I would really recommend if you have the opportunity to meet people in person, go to an event and just tell people what you're interested in and find folks that are working in that area.

Well, they used a domain incremental protocol across 15 radically diverse text domains.

We're talking Wikipedia articles, CPython source code, the complete works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, Reuters Newswire, all the way to a Hindi text corpus.

And the constraints are what make this test so brutal, right? Because there is absolutely zero replay allowed.

None.