Overview

RPython by Example (RPyBE) is a collection of runnable examples that illustrate various RPython concepts and libraries. RPyBE starts with a hello world example and built-in types in RPython, then dives into RPython libraries, and build a simple application at last.

Since RPython is based on the Python syntax, most concepts in RPython are similar with Python. However, there are still some notable differences in built-in types. Firstly, RPython is strong typed. This imposes some restrictions on using built-in types such as list and dict. In addition, some implementation differences also bring us restrictions to a certain degree. For instance, the set type is not implemented in RPython, and we have to use dict to simulate the set type. Since there are many differences scattered here and there, we highlight the differences, inconsistencies, and usage suggestions in admonition boxes within the paragraphs.

In RPyBE, we give plentiful examples on RPython’s builtin types, RPython modules, and FFI. Also, to demonstrate the capabilities of RPython, we use it to design and implement a toy language with JIT. In a nutshell, RPyBE will help you to understand RPython’s restrictions and quickly get started with it.

Note

All example source code in the book can be found in the RPyBE repository under the code directory. Note that file names with the unsupported suffix are code which supported by CPython but not RPython. And file names with the error suffix are code to illustrate RPython compiler errors. You can use the make to compile a specific RPython source. For instance, to compile the hello world example, you need to setup $RPY path first, run make hello_world, and execute with ./hello_world-c.