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This sounds really interesting to read about, especially refactoring into an entirely new language. Are there any articles about what that process looked like f

• dpwm 7y ago
  Not the OP, and no experience with google, but I have personally worked in a way that sounds as if it could be similar: First, you start with a slow but correct prototype in python. This can then be refactored into python closer to C, thinking about the data structures and functions that will be needed in C. Then, you can refactor these bits into C. I've usually done this one module at a time. You then write python bindings to this new C code. There are a number of shortcuts available here with differing tradeoffs, but you can just use the Python/C API. In the end you're left with a C library, some bindings, and some python that just calls to the python bindings for the C library. It would not be a huge leap to go from that to a full C implementation. Nothing I've said here is C specific, so you can do the same with C++. There are upsides and downsides to this whole approach. For me, one of the downsides is the amount of stuff to remember, especially some of the quirks of extending Python. I find it easier to start with something correct but high-level in Python and work down to something easier to translate into C, even if I skip straight to the writing in C bit. I have found this usually leads to a significantly better design whilst it was still Python. You can also test the behaviour of the C and python modules against each other.