Description
Currently the extension relies on whichever Python the user has installed (and selected). This leads to following issues:
- any internal Python code in the extension must be compatible with a wide range of Python versions (increasing development/maintenance costs)
- internal use of Python means that the user must have at least one Python interpreter installed
- there are no guarantees that the user's installed "Python" interpreter is actually one that's compatible with our internal Python code
Thus we should consider bundling a Python interpreter with the extension. The catch is that the bundled interpreter must be cross-platform, or else we must ship one for each platform. Thus we do not have a lot of good options. Our best bet is to use an interpreter that would run under Node.
Possibilities:
| Project | How |
|---|---|
| batavia | JavaScript interpreter |
| pypyjs | WebAssembly |
| pyodide | WebAssembly |
| brython | JavaScript interpreter |
| transcrypt | Transpiler to JavaScript |
Some have also tried compiling Python implementations use emscripten:
micropython, CPython
There's also the option of using a Node "addon". This would allow us to use the normal CPython embedding API to pull Python into Node. However, this has the same problem as distributing a Python binary: not cross-platform.
See this page for a deeper look into possible solutions (for running Python under a JS engine).
I expect that, with the availability of an "embedded" Python, we'd want to re-implement most of the extension in Python (over time, one piece at a time). A concise view of what we'd replace and in what order will help dictate any decision on selecting an embedding solution:
- ...
- ...
Furthermore, anything we do here would strongly benefit from a clear picture of VS Code's entry points into the extension. From what I understand, that should be covered by:
- activation mechanism
- callbacks (e.g.
vscode.commands.registerCommand(...))- what are all the callbacks we support? (or that we could support?)
- debugger?
- language server?
- ...
It feels like I'm missing something on that list.