How can I learn more about Python’s internals?

python python-3.x internals
user277465 picture user277465 · Jul 21, 2010 · Viewed 20.7k times · Source

I have been programming using Python for slightly more than half an year now and I am more interested in Python internals rather than using Python to develop applications. Currently I am working on porting a few libraries from Python2 to Python3. However, I have a rather abstract view on how to make port stuff over from Python2 to Python3 as most of the changes deal with design issues in Python2.x

I'd like to learn more about Python internals; should I go for a top-down or a bottom-up approach? Are there any references you could recommend?

Answer

Ned Batchelder picture Ned Batchelder · Jul 21, 2010

It sounds like you want to know more about the rationale behind the design of the language, rather than internals. "internals" to me means things like how objects are laid out in memory, how reference counting works, and so on.

If you're looking for a deeper understanding of the design decisions, try reading the PEPs: they are the proposals for changes in the language, and often include detailed discussions of the reasons for the changes, rejected alternatives, and so on. Even the rejected PEPs are useful, because they show the thinking that has shaped the language.

For example:

and so on..

If you really want to learn about Python internals, then start by reading about the Python C API, which is used to build Python itself: my talk A Whirlwind Excursion through Python C Extensions is one place to start. Then you can dive into the Python source code itself for anything you need to learn about.

Related questions

Convert bytes to a string

I'm using this code to get standard output from an external program: >>> from subprocess import * >>> command_stdout = Popen(['ls', '-l'], stdout=PIPE).communicate()[0] The communicate() method returns an array of bytes: >>> …

Read More
Best way to convert string to bytes in Python 3?

There appear to be two different ways to convert a string to bytes, as seen in the answers to TypeError: 'str' does not support the buffer interface Which of these methods would be better or more Pythonic? Or is it …

Read More
How to install pip with Python 3?

I want to install pip. It should support Python 3, but it requires setuptools, which is available only for Python 2. How can I install pip with Python 3?

Read More