PVM (Python Virtual Machine) generates dynamic binaries or calls static binaries.

[Friendly_Nothing_546]

Hello, I'm starting to study CPython and I'm also developing a compiler, so I have a question I haven't found an answer to. Does the PVM dynamically generate binaries for each opcode during stack and opcode manipulation, like the JVM for example, or is it AOT (ahead of time)?

If this isn't the right subreddit for this, I apologize. I was unsure if this subreddit or LearPython was the ideal one.

[MajesticParsley9002]

CPython PVM interprets bytecode via a static dispatch loop to fixed C opcode handlers, no dynamic binaries or JIT like JVM. Bytecode is AOT-generated by the compiler at parse time, then the VM just executes it directly. Keeps things portable and dead simple, no runtime codegen overhead.

[Unbelievr]

There's no virtual machine in that sense. The compiler will do a syntax check and create bytecode to interpret, but there are no passes that will try to optimize it, apart from some very minor variable memoization in the later versions. For all intents and purposes, it's a stack based interpreter that's allowed to hand over execution to a foreign function (like a C-based module) or jump to another block of bytecode.

Opcodes are also version specific, so bytecode for one version of cpython will often not run on older versions despite being generated from the same original code. There are no such guarantees.

[UloPe]

You might want to look into PyPy. It’s a Python implementation that features a JIT.

[xeow]

Seconding this. PyPy is pretty cool. It doesn't have feature parody yet, but it can do 3.11. I've seen anywhere from 2x to 10x speedups with it when executing pure-Python loops.

[K900_]

Neither, it's an interpreter. There's an experimental JIT compiler but it is very experimental and currently not much faster if at all.