Łukasz Langa at PyLondinium19: “If Python stays synonymous with CPython for too long, we’ll be in big trouble”

PyLondinium, the conference for Python developers was held in London, from the 14th to the 16th of June, 2019. At the Sunday Keynote Łukasz Langa, the creator of Black (Python code formatter) and Python 3.8 release manager spoke on where Python could be in 2020 and how Python developers should try new browser and mobile-friendly versions of Python.

Python is an extremely expressive language, says Łukasz. “When I first started I was amazed how much you can accomplish with just a few lines of code especially compared to Java. But there are still languages that are even more expressive and enables even more compact notation.” So what makes Python special? Python is run above pseudocode; it reads like English; it is very elegant. “Our responsibility as developers,” Łukasz mentions “is to make Python’s runnable pseudocode convenient to use for new programmers.”

Python has gotten much bigger, stable and more complex in the last decade. However, the most low-hanging fruit, Łukasz says, has already been picked up and what's left is the maintenance of an increasingly fossilizing interpreter and a stunted library. This maintenance is both tedious and tricky especially for a dynamic interpreter language like Python.

Python being a community-run project is both a blessing and a curse

Łukasz talks about how Python is the biggest community ran programming language on the planet. Other programming languages with similar or larger market penetration are either run by single corporations or multiple committees. Being a community project is both a blessing and a curse for Python, says Łukasz. It's a blessing because it's truly free from shareholder pressure and market swing. It’s a curse because almost the entire core developer team is volunteering their time and effort for free and the Python Software Foundation is graciously funding infrastructure and events; it does not currently employ any core developers. Since there is both Python and software right in the name of the foundation, Lukasz says he wants it to change.

“If you don't pay people, you have no influence over what they work on. Core developers often choose problems to tackle based on what inspires them personally. So we never had an explicit roadmap on where Python should go and what problems or developers should focus on,” he adds.

Python is no longer governed by a BDFL says Łukasz, “My personal hope is that the steering council will be providing visionary guidance from now on and will present us with an explicit roadmap on where we should go.”

Interesting and dead projects in Python

Łukasz talked about mypyc and invited people to work and contribute to this project as well as organizations to sponsor it. Mypyc is a compiler that compiles mypy-annotated, statically typed Python modules into CPython C extensions. This restricts the Python language to enable compilation. Mypyc supports a subset of Python.

He also mentioned MicroPython, which is a Kickstarter-funded subset of Python optimized to run on microcontrollers and other constrained environments.

It is a compatible runtime for microcontrollers that has very little memory- 16 kilobytes of RAM and 256 kilobytes for code memory and minimal computing power. He also talks about micro:bit.

He also mentions many dead/dying/defunct projects for alternative Python interpreters, including Unladen Swallow, Pyston, IronPython. He talked about PyPy - the JIT Python compiler written in Python. Łukasz mentions that since it is written in Python 2, it makes it the most complex applications written in the industry. “This is at risk at the moment,” says Łukasz “since it’s a large Python 2 codebase needs updating to Python 3. Without a tremendous investment, it is very unlikely to ever migrate to Python 3.” Also, trying to replicate CPython quirks and bugs requires a lot of effort.

Python should be aligned with where developer trends are shifting

Łukasz believes that a stronger division between language and the reference implementation is important in case of Python. He declared, “If Python stays synonymous with CPython for too long, we’ll be in big trouble.” This is because CPython is not available where developer trends are shifting. For the web, the lingua franca is JavaScript now. For the two biggest operating systems on mobile, there is Swift the modern take on Objective C and Kotlin, the modern take on Java. For VR AR and 3D games, there is C# provided by Unity. While Python is growing fast, it’s not winning ground in two big areas: the browser, and mobile.

Python is also slowly losing ground in the field of systems orchestration where Go is gaining traction. He adds, “if there were not the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence, Python would have not survived the transition between Python 2 and Python 3.”

Łukasz mentions how providing a clear supported and official option for the client-side web is what Python needs in order to satisfy the legion of people that want to use it.  He says, “for Python, the programming language to need to reach new heights we need a new kind of Python. One that caters to where developer trends are shifting - mobile, web, VR, AR, and 3D games. There should be more projects experimenting with Python for these platforms. This especially means trying restricted versions of the language because they are easier to optimize.

We need a Python compiler for Web and Python on Mobile

Łukasz talked about the need to shift to where developer trends are shifting. He says we need a Python compiler for the web - something that compiles your Python code to the web platform directly. He also adds, that to be viable for professional production use, Python on the web must not be orders of magnitude slower than the default option (Javascript) which is already better supported and has better documentation and training.

Similarly, for mobile he wants a small Python application so that websites run fast and have quick user interactions. He gives the example of the Go programming language stating how “one of Go’s claims to fame is the fact that they shipped static binaries so you only have one file. You can choose to still use containers but it’s not necessary; you don't have virtual ends, you don't have pip installs, and you don't have environments that you have to orchestrate.”

Łukasz further adds how the areas of modern focus where Python currently has no penetration don't require full compatibility with CPython. Starting out with a familiar subset of Python for the user that looks like Python would simplify the development of a new runtime or compiler a lot and potentially would even fit the target platform better.

What if I want to work on CPython?

Łukasz says that developers can still work on CPython if they want to. “I'm not saying that CPython is a dead end; it will forever be an important runtime for Python. New people are still both welcome and needed in fact. However, working on CPython today is different from working on it ten years ago; the runtime is mission-critical in many industries which is why developers must be extremely careful.”

Łukasz sums his talk by declaring, “I strongly believe that enabling Python on new platforms is an important job. I'm not saying Python as the entire programming language should just abandon what it is now. I would prefer for us to be able to keep Python exactly as it is and just move it to all new platforms. Albeit, it is not possible without multi-million dollar investments over many years.”

The talk was well appreciated by Twitter users with people lauding it as ‘fantastic’ and ‘enlightening’.

https://twitter.com/WillingCarol/status/1156411772472971264

https://twitter.com/freakboy3742/status/1156365742435995648

https://twitter.com/jezdez/status/1156584209366081536

You can watch the full Keynote on YouTube.

NumPy 1.17.0 is here, officially drops Python 2.7 support pushing forward Python 3 adoption

Python 3.8 new features: the walrus operator, positional-only parameters, and much more

Introducing PyOxidizer, an open source utility for producing standalone Python applications, written in Rust