Starting off!

Hello and welcome,

My name is Greg Slodkowicz and this is my blog documenting progress on the Python Import Engine project. Here is a short description of the project:

Large part of development effort in Python 3 went into making the language definition and standard library cleaner and more consistent. However, the module importing functionality was originally implemented in C, which made extending it from the level of Python nearly impossible. This functionality has since been made more flexible and the situation was improved by introduction of import hooks as well as an implementation of __import__() in Python.

A modularised, self-contained import functionality would make Python more consistent and powerful, e. g. isolating import state would open avenues into implementing better sandbox environments (through module white/blacklisting).

In the time before the coding period starts, I will focus on how to isolate the state relevant to the import functionality and how to maximise code reuse when implementing the ImportEngine class. A more detailed description of the design will follow on the Python wiki: http://wiki.python.org/moin/SummerOfCode/PythonImportEnginePlanning

The forked Python 3.3 repository is hosted on bitbucket: http://bitbucket.org/jergosh/gsoc_import_engine