As someone who only knows Python, this gives me existential angst. Like some other people have pointed out, I think the GIL is secret sauce to Python's success. I would be vary of the religious fervor behind taking the GIL to the gallows.
It's hard to put to words what the GIL does for Python. I think the best I can do is to point to Rust and ask you to consider what Rust's number one claim to fame is? A more than significant part of Rust's bible ("the book") is about memory ownership. Python's GIL lets me be completely ignorant of these issues and all my brain cells just focus on the problem at hand.
My long term livelihood and sanity is at stake here and I really appreciate that some of core maintainers of Python are taking their time and thinking deeply about the implications of removing the GIL.
Python with the big bad GIL has become the most popular language in recent years. And it's gotten there slowly and steadily over 20 years. The most popular language just so happens to be the only (?) language that is single threaded.
It's hard to put to words what the GIL does for Python. I think the best I can do is to point to Rust and ask you to consider what Rust's number one claim to fame is? A more than significant part of Rust's bible ("the book") is about memory ownership. Python's GIL lets me be completely ignorant of these issues and all my brain cells just focus on the problem at hand.
My long term livelihood and sanity is at stake here and I really appreciate that some of core maintainers of Python are taking their time and thinking deeply about the implications of removing the GIL.
Python with the big bad GIL has become the most popular language in recent years. And it's gotten there slowly and steadily over 20 years. The most popular language just so happens to be the only (?) language that is single threaded.