hython

A toy Python 3 interpreter implemented in Haskell.

Introduction

I wanted to learn Haskell, and I wanted a big project, so I decided to write a Python 3 interpreter. The result was extremely educational and easily the coolest project I've ever worked on. Because it's implemented in a naive fashion, it won't ever be a replacement for real Python implementations.

Note: Hython only implements most of the Python3 language. It doesn't contain much of a standard library, which is a big part of what makes Python pleasant to use. Adding all of the necessary machinery needed for the existing Python 3 standard library to function is an enormous undertaking that I'm not interested in.

Status

It's finally done! Or at least, I'm declaring it that way.

Features

• Lexer
• Parser
• Most built-in data types, including int, bool, string, list, dict and range
• Common unary and binary operators on common data types
• A few built-in functions, including print
• Variable assignment and lookup, with support for nonlocal and global keywords
• Conditional expressions with if and else
• All loop constructs: for and while with support for break and continue within them
• Support for the with statement
• Destructuring ((a,b) = [1,2])
• Functions, including nested functions, default parameters, and keyword parameters
• Splat (* and **) operators in caller argument lists
• Lambda expressions, with proper environment capture
• Classes, including inheritance and proper method resolution order
• Objects
• Exception handling via try, with support for handlers, frame unwinding, finally handlers, and else, along with some built-in exception classes
• Basic support for loading modules with the import statement
• Simple REPL
• Support for the is operator
• Support for generators and yield
• List/generator/dict/set comprehensions
• Index slicing
• Support for decorators / metaclasses
• Multi-line input for the REPL

Code Metrics

sloccount output as of 10/1/16:

Totals grouped by language (dominant language first):
haskell:       2159 (70.83%)
yacc:           580 (19.03%) # parser
python:         309 (10.14%) # lib

Examples

See the test directory for example code that works

Building and running

1. Install Stack

2. Clone the repository:

    $ git clone https://github.com/mattgreen/hython.git
    $ cd hython
   

3. Build:

    $ make
   

4. Run a file:

    $ ./hython test/fib.py
   

REPL

Hython includes a simple REPL, which you can play around with:

$ ./hython

Test Suite

Hython's test suite is rather simple: it ensures the output of Hython matches that of the system's python3 for each test file.

To run the automated test suite:

$ make test

Reference Information

• Python 3.4 Language Reference
• Alex + Happy Whitespace Handling
• berp
• Language.Python