SPy: An interpreter and compiler for a fast statically typed variant of Python

SPy rolled onto the scene promising Python-like code with serious speed, but with a big caveat: it’s not trying to be “real” Python. The dev (backed by Anaconda time) admits SPy won’t support many of Python’s trickiest features and lives in its own .spy files. Cue the comment brawl. One user immediately hit a wall—“cookie-gate”—complaining they can’t even read the post on mobile without accepting cookies, which became the day’s meme. Others loved the “looks like pseudocode, but runs” vibe, but pressed for proof: how Pythonic does SPy actually feel?

Skeptics flooded in with the classic “we already have this” angle, pointing to Cython as the mature option for a Python-ish, typed speed boost. Another thread pulled SPy into a face-off with Mojo, the buzzy “fast Python” language from Modular, asking for side-by-side experiences and sparking comparisons to past speed experiments like PyPy. Fans highlighted a demo raytracer allegedly 200x faster than regular Python, while cynics noted SPy can’t yet import Python libraries, making it feel more like a promising concept than a daily tool. The vibe: half cheering the honesty (“not a Python compiler”), half eye-rolling at yet another “faster Python” variant. Bonus drama: nostalgic tales of RPython, hinting that tool-born languages often get friend-zoned by devs. Mojo