Nuitka-winsvc 2.4.5__tar.gz → 2.6.8__tar.gz

nuitka_winsvc-2.6.8/Developer_Manual.rst

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+#########################
+ Nuitka Developer Manual
+#########################
+
+The purpose of this Developer Manual is to present the current design of
+Nuitka, the project rules, and the motivations for choices made. It is
+intended to be a guide to the source code, and to give explanations that
+don't fit into the source code in comments form.
+
+It should be used as a reference for the process of planning and
+documenting decisions we made. Therefore we are e.g. presenting here the
+type inference plans before implementing them. And we update them as we
+proceed.
+
+It grows out of discussions and presentations made at conferences as
+well as private conversations or issue tracker.
+
+************
+ Milestones
+************
+
+#. Feature parity with CPython, understand all the language construct
+   and behave absolutely compatible.
+
+   Feature parity has been reached for CPython 2.6 and 2.7. We do not
+   target any older CPython release. For CPython 3 up to 3.13 it also
+   has been reached. We do not target the older and practically unused
+   CPython 3.0 to 3.3 releases.
+
+   This milestone was reached. Dropping support for Python 2.6 is an
+   option, should this prove to be any benefit. Currently it is not, as
+   it extends the test coverage only.
+
+#. Create the most efficient native code from this. This means to be
+   fast with the basic Python object handling.
+
+   This milestone was reached, although of course, micro optimizations
+   to this are happening all the time.
+
+#. Then do constant propagation, determine as many values and useful
+   constraints as possible at compile time and create more efficient
+   code.
+
+   This milestone is considered almost reached. We continue to discover
+   new things, but the infrastructure is there, and these are easy to
+   add.
+
+#. Type inference, detect and special case the handling of strings,
+   integers, lists in the program.
+
+   This milestone is considered in progress.
+
+#. Add interfacing to C code, so Nuitka can turn a ``ctypes`` binding
+   into an efficient binding as written with C.
+
+   This milestone is planned only.
+
+#. Add hints module with a useful Python implementation that the
+   compiler can use to learn about types from the programmer.
+
+   This milestone is planned only.
+
+*****************
+ Version Numbers
+*****************
+
+For Nuitka we use semantic versioning, initially with a leading zero
+still, once we pass release ``1.9``, the scheme will indicate the ``10``
+through using ``2.0``.
+
+***************
+ Current State
+***************
+
+Nuitka top level works like this:
+
+-  ``nuitka.tree.Building`` outputs node tree
+
+-  ``nuitka.optimization`` enhances it as best as it can
+
+-  ``nuitka.finalization`` prepares the tree for code generation
+
+-  ``nuitka.code_generation.CodeGeneration`` orchestrates the creation
+   of code snippets
+
+-  ``nuitka.code_generation.*Codes`` knows how specific code kinds are
+   created
+
+-  ``nuitka.MainControl`` keeps it all together
+
+This design is intended to last.
+
+Regarding types, the state is:
+
+-  Types are always ``PyObject *``, and only a few C types, e.g.
+   ``nuitka_bool`` and ``nuitka_void`` and more are coming. Even for
+   objects, often it's know that things are e.g. really a
+   ``PyTupleObject **``, but no C type is available for that yet.
+
+-  There are a some specific use of types beyond "compile time
+   constant", that are encoded in type and value shapes, which can be
+   used to predict some operations, conditions, etc. if they raise, and
+   result types they give.
+
+-  In code generation, the supported C types are used, and sometimes we
+   have specialized code generation, e.g. a binary operation that takes
+   an ``int`` and a ``float`` and produces a ``float`` value. There will
+   be fallbacks to less specific types.
+
+The expansion with more C types is currently in progress, and there will
+also be alternative C types, where e.g. ``PyObject *`` and ``C long``
+are in an enum that indicates which value is valid, and where special
+code will be available that can avoid creating the ``PyObject **``
+unless the later overflows.
+
+***************************************************
+ Setting up the Development Environment for Nuitka
+***************************************************
+
+Currently there are very different kinds of files that we need support
+for. This is best addressed with an IDE. We cover here how to setup the
+most common one.
+
+Visual Studio Code
+==================
+
+Download Visual Studio Code from here:
+https://code.visualstudio.com/download
+
+At this time, this is the recommended IDE for Linux and Windows. This is
+going to cover the plugins to install. Configuration is part of the
+``.vscode`` in your Nuitka checkout. If you are not familiar with
+Eclipse, this is Free Software IDE,designed to be universally extended,
+and it truly is. There are plugins available for nearly everything.
+
+The extensions to be installed are part of the Visual Code
+recommendations in ``.vscode/extensions.json`` and you will be prompted
+about that and ought to install these.
+
+Eclipse / PyCharm
+=================
+
+Don't use these anymore, we consider Visual Studio Code to be far
+superior for delivering a nice out of the box environment.
+
+*************************
+ Commit and Code Hygiene
+*************************
+
+In Nuitka we have tools to auto format code, you can execute them
+manually, but it's probably best to execute them at commit time, to make
+sure when we share code, it's already well format, and to avoid noise
+doing cleanups.
+
+The kinds of changes also often cause unnecessary merge conflicts, while
+the auto format is designed to format code also in a way that it avoids
+merge conflicts in the normal case, e.g. by doing imports one item per
+line.
+
+In order to set up hooks, you need to execute these commands:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   # Where python is the one you use with Nuitka, this then gets all
+   # development requirements, can be full PATH.
+   python -m pip install -r requirements-devel.txt
+   python ./misc/install-git-hooks.py
+
+These commands will make sure that the ``autoformat-nuitka-source`` is
+run on every staged file content at the time you do the commit. For C
+files, it may complain unavailability of ``clang-format``, follow it's
+advice. You may call the above tool at all times, without arguments to
+format call Nuitka source code.
+
+Should you encounter problems with applying the changes to the checked
+out file, you can always execute it with ``COMMIT_UNCHECKED=1``
+environment set.
+
+*********************
+ Coding Rules Python
+*********************
+
+These rules should generally be adhered when working on Nuitka code.
+It's not library code and it's optimized for readability, and avoids all
+performance optimization for itself.
+
+Tool to format
+==============
+
+There is a tool ``bin/autoformat-nuitka-source`` which is to apply
+automatic formatting to code as much as possible. It uses ``black``
+(internally) for consistent code formatting. The imports are sorted with
+``isort`` for proper order.
+
+The tool (mostly ``black`` and ``isort``) encodes all formatting rules,
+and makes the decisions for us. The idea being that we can focus on
+actual code and do not have to care as much about other things. It also
+deals with Windows new lines, trailing space, etc. and even sorts PyLint
+disable statements.
+
+Identifiers
+===========
+
+Classes
+-------
+
+Classes are camel case with leading upper case. Functions and methods
+are with leading verb in lower case, but also camel case. Variables and
+arguments are lower case with ``_`` as a separator.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   class SomeClass:
+       def doSomething(some_parameter):
+           some_var = ("foo", "bar")
+
+Base classes that are abstract have their name end with ``Base``, so
+that a meta class can use that convention, and readers immediately know,
+that it will not be instantiated like that.
+
+Functions
+---------
+
+Function calls use keyword argument preferably. These are slower in
+CPython, but more readable:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   getSequenceCreationCode(
+       sequence_kind=sequence_kind, element_identifiers=identifiers, context=context
+   )
+
+When the names don't add much value, sequential calls can be done:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   context.setLoopContinueTarget(handler_start_target)
+
+Here, ``setLoopContinueTarget`` will be so well known that the reader is
+expected to know the argument names and their meaning, but it would be
+still better to add them. But in this instance, the variable name
+already indicates that it is.
+
+Module/Package Names
+--------------------
+
+Normal modules are named in camel case with leading upper case, because
+of their role as singleton classes. The difference between a module and
+a class is small enough and in the source code they are also used
+similarly.
+
+For the packages, no real code is allowed in their ``__init__.py`` and
+they must be lower case, like e.g. ``nuitka`` or ``codegen``. This is to
+distinguish them from the modules.
+
+Packages shall only be used to group things. In
+``nuitka.code_generation`` the code generation packages are located,
+while the main interface is ``nuitka.code_generation.CodeGeneration``
+and may then use most of the entries as local imports.
+
+There is no code in packages themselves. For programs, we use
+``__main__`` package to carry the actual code.
+
+Names of modules should be plurals if they contain classes. Example is
+that a ``Nodes`` module that contains a ``Node`` class.
+
+Context Managers
+----------------
+
+Names for context manages start with ``with``
+
+In order to easily recognize that something is to be used as a context
+manager, we follow a pattern of naming them ``withSomething``, to make
+that easily recognized.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   with withEnvironmentPathAdded(os.path.join(sys.prefix, "bin")):
+       with withDirectoryChange(self.qt_datadir):
+           ...
+
+This makes these easy to recognize even in their definition.
+
+Prefer list contractions over built-ins
+=======================================
+
+This concerns ``map``, ``filter``, and ``apply``. Usage of these
+built-ins is highly discouraged within Nuitka source code. Using them is
+considered worth a warning by "PyLint" e.g. "Used built-in function
+'map'". We should use list contractions instead, because they are more
+readable.
+
+List contractions are a generalization for all of them. We love
+readability and with Nuitka as a compiler, there won't be any
+performance difference at all.
+
+There are cases where a list contraction is faster because you can avoid
+to make a function call. And there may be cases, where map is faster, if
+a function must be called. These calls can be very expensive in CPython,
+and if you introduce a function, just for ``map``, then it might be
+slower.
+
+But of course, Nuitka is the project to free us from what is faster and
+to allow us to use what is more readable, so whatever is faster, we
+don't care. We make all options equally fast and let people choose.
+
+For Nuitka the choice is list contractions as these are more easily
+changed and readable.
+
+Look at this code examples from Python:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   class A:
+       def getX(self):
+           return 1
+
+       x = property(getX)
+
+
+   class B(A):
+       def getX(self):
+           return 2
+
+
+   A().x == 1  # True
+   B().x == 1  # True (!)
+
+This pretty much is what makes properties bad. One would hope ``B().x``
+to be ``2``, but instead it's not changed. Because of the way properties
+take the functions and not members, and because they then are not part
+of the class, they cannot be overloaded without redeclaring them.
+
+Overloading is then not at all obvious anymore. Now imagine having a
+setter and only overloading the getter. How to update the property
+easily?
+
+So, that's not likable about them. And then we are also for clarity in
+these internal APIs too. Properties try and hide the fact that code
+needs to run and may do things. So let's not use them.
+
+For an external API you may exactly want to hide things, but internally
+that has no use, and in Nuitka, every API is internal API. One exception
+may be the ``hints`` module, which will gladly use such tricks for an
+easier write syntax.
+
+****************
+ Coding Rules C
+****************
+
+For the static C parts, e.g. compiled types, helper codes, the
+``clang-format`` from LLVM project is used, the tool
+``autoformat-nuitka-source`` does this for us.
+
+We always have blocks for conditional statements to avoid typical
+mistakes made by adding a statement to a branch, forgetting to make it a
+block.
+
+**********************
+ The "git flow" model
+**********************
+
+-  The flow is used for releases and occasionally subsequent hot fixes.
+
+   A few feature branches were used so far. It allows for quick delivery
+   of fixes to both the stable and the development version, supported by
+   a git plug-in, that can be installed via "apt-get install git-flow".
+
+-  Stable (``main`` branch)
+
+   The stable version, is expected to pass all the tests at all times
+   and is fully supported. As soon as bugs are discovered, they are
+   fixed as hot fixes, and then merged to develop by the "git flow"
+   automatically.
+
+-  Development (``develop`` branch)
+
+   The future release, supposedly in almost ready for release state at
+   nearly all times, but this is less strict. It is not officially
+   supported, and may have problems and at times inconsistencies.
+   Normally this branch is supposed to not be rebased. For severe
+   problems it may be done though.
+
+-  Factory (default feature branch)
+
+   Code under construction. We publish commits there, that may not hold
+   up in testing, and before it enters develop branch. Factory may have
+   severe regressions frequently, and commits become **rebased all the
+   time**, so do not base your patches on it, please prefer the
+   ``develop`` branch for that, unless of course, it's about factory
+   code itself.
+
+-  Personal branches (jorj, orsiris, others as well)
+
+   We are currently not using this, but it's an option.
+
+-  Feature Branches
+
+   We are not currently using these. They could be used for long lived
+   changes that extend for multiple release cycles and are not ready
+   yet. Currently we perform all changes in steps that can be included
+   in releases or delay making those changes.
+
+******************************
+ Nuitka "git/github" Workflow
+******************************
+
+-  Forking and cloning
+
+   You need to have git installed and GitHub account. Goto Nuitka
+   repository <https://github.com/Nuitka/Nuitka> and fork the
+   repository.
+
+   To clone it to your local machine execute the following your git
+   bash:
+
+   .. code:: bash
+
+      git clone https://github.com/your-user-name/Nuitka.git
+      cd Nuitka
+      git remote add upstream https://github.com/Nuitka/Nuitka.git
+
+-  Create a Branch
+
+   .. code:: bash
+
+      git checkout develop
+      git pull --rebase upstream
+      git checkout -b feature_branch
+
+   If you are having merge conflicts while doing the previous step, then
+   check out (DON'T FORGET TO SAVE YOUR CHANGES FIRST IF ANY):
+   <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1125968/how-do-i-force-git-pull-to-overwrite-local-files>
+
+-  In case you have an existing branch rebase it to develop
+
+   .. code:: bash
+
+      git fetch upstream
+      git rebase upstream/develop
+
+   Fix the merge conflicts if any and continue or skip commit if it is
+   not your. Sometimes for important bug fixes, develop history gets
+   rewritten. In that case, old and new commits will conflict during
+   your rebase, and skipping is the best way to go.
+
+   .. code:: bash
+
+      git rebase --continue
+      # not your commit:
+      git rebase --skip
+
+   If anything goes wrong while rebasing:
+
+   .. code:: bash
+
+      git rebase --abort
+
+-  Making changes
+
+   .. code:: bash
+
+      git commit -a -m "Commit Message"
+      git push -u origin # once, later always:
+      git push
+
+**********************************
+ API Documentation and Guidelines
+**********************************
+
+There is API documentation generated with ``doxygen``, available at
+`this location <https://nuitka.net/apidoc>`__ .
+
+To ensure meaningful ``doxygen`` output, the following guidelines must
+be observed when creating or updating Python source:
+
+Use of Standard Python ``__doc__`` Strings
+==========================================
+
+Every class and every method should be documented via the standard
+Python delimiters (``""" ... """``) in the usual way.
+
+Special ``doxygen`` Anatomy of ``__doc__``
+==========================================
+
+.. note::
+
+   We are replacing Doxygen with sphinx, this is all obsolete
+
+-  Immediately after the leading ``"""``, and after 1 space on the same
+   line, enter a brief description or title of the class or method. This
+   must be 1 line and be followed by at least 1 empty line.
+
+-  Depending on the item, choose from the following "sections" to
+   describe what the item is and does.
+
+   Each section name is coded on its own line, aligned with the leading
+   ``"""`` and followed by a colon ":". Anything following the section,
+   must start on a new line and be indented by 4 spaces relative to the
+   section. Except for the first section (``Notes:``) after the title,
+   sections need not be preceded by empty lines -- but it is good
+   practice to still do that.
+
+   -  ``Notes:`` detailed description of the item, any length.
+
+      May contain line breaks with each new line starting aligned with
+      previous one. The text will automatically be joined across line
+      breaks and be reformatted in the browser.
+
+      If you describe details for a class, you can do so **without**
+      using this section header and all formatting will still work fine.
+      If you however omit the ``Notes:`` for methods, then the text will
+      be interpreted **as code**, be shown in an ugly monospaced font,
+      and no automatic line breaks will occur in the browser.
+
+   -  ``Args:`` positional arguments.
+
+      Each argument then follows, starting on a new line and indented by
+      4 spaces. The argument name must be followed by a colon ``:`` or
+      double hash ``--``, followed by a description of arbitrary length.
+
+      The description can be separated by line breaks.
+
+   -  ``Kwargs:`` keyword arguments. Same rules as for args.
+
+   -  ``Returns:`` description of what will be returned if applicable
+      (any length).
+
+   -  ``Yields:`` synonymous for ``Returns:``.
+
+   -  ``Raises:`` name any exceptions that may be raised.
+
+   -  ``Examples:`` specify any example code.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def foo(p1, p2, kw1=None, kw2=None):
+       """This is an example method.
+
+       Notes:
+           It does one or the other indispensable things based on some parameters
+           and proudly returns a dictionary.
+
+       Args:
+           p1: parameter one
+           p2: parameter two
+
+       Kwargs:
+           kw1: keyword one
+           kw2: keyword two
+
+       Returns:
+           A dictionary calculated from the input.
+
+       Raises:
+           ValueError, IndexError
+
+       Examples:
+           >>> foo(1, 2, kw1=3, kw2=4)
+           {'a': 4, 'b': 6}
+       """
+
+*********************
+ Checking the Source
+*********************
+
+The static checking for errors is currently done with ``PyLint``. In the
+future, Nuitka itself will gain the ability to present its findings in a
+similar way, but this is not a priority, and we are not there yet.
+
+So, we currently use ``PyLint`` with options defined in a script.
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./bin/check-nuitka-with-pylint
+
+The above command is expected to give no warnings. It is also run on our
+CI and we will not merge branches that do not pass.
+
+*******************
+ Running the Tests
+*******************
+
+This section describes how to run Nuitka tests.
+
+Running all Tests
+=================
+
+The top level access to the tests is as simple as this:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./tests/run-tests
+
+For fine grained control, it has the following options:
+
+.. code::
+
+   --skip-basic-tests    The basic tests, execute these to check if Nuitka is
+                         healthy. Default is True.
+   --skip-syntax-tests   The syntax tests, execute these to check if Nuitka
+                         handles Syntax errors fine. Default is True.
+   --skip-program-tests  The programs tests, execute these to check if Nuitka
+                         handles programs, e.g. import recursions, etc. fine.
+                         Default is True.
+   --skip-package-tests  The packages tests, execute these to check if Nuitka
+                         handles packages, e.g. import recursions, etc. fine.
+                         Default is True.
+   --skip-optimizations-tests
+                         The optimization tests, execute these to check if
+                         Nuitka does optimize certain constructs fully away.
+                         Default is True.
+   --skip-standalone-tests
+                         The standalone tests, execute these to check if Nuitka
+                         standalone mode, e.g. not referring to outside,
+                         important 3rd library packages like PyQt fine. Default
+                         is True.
+   --skip-reflection-test
+                         The reflection test compiles Nuitka with Nuitka, and
+                         then Nuitka with the compile Nuitka and compares the
+                         outputs. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython26-tests
+                         The standard CPython2.6 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.7 this
+                         covers exception behavior quite well. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython27-tests
+                         The standard CPython2.7 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.6 these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython32-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.2 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.6 these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython33-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.3 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython34-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.4 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython35-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.5 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython36-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.6 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython37-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.7 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython38-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.8 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython39-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.9 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython310-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.10 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython311-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.11 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython312-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.12 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --skip-cpython313-tests
+                         The standard CPython3.13 test suite. Execute this for
+                         all corner cases to be covered. With Python 2.x these
+                         are not run. Default is True.
+   --no-python2.6        Do not use Python 2.6 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python2.7        Do not use Python 2.7 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.4        Do not use Python 3.4 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.5        Do not use Python 3.5 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.6        Do not use Python 3.6 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.7        Do not use Python 3.7 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.8        Do not use Python 3.8 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.9        Do not use Python 3.9 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.10       Do not use Python 3.10 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.11       Do not use Python 3.11 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.12       Do not use Python 3.12 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --no-python3.13       Do not use Python 3.13 even if available on the system.
+                         Default is False.
+   --coverage            Make a coverage analysis, that does not really check.
+                         Default is False.
+
+You will only run the CPython test suites, if you have the submodules of
+the Nuitka git repository checked out. Otherwise, these will be skipped
+with a warning that they are not available.
+
+The policy is generally, that ``./test/run-tests`` running and passing
+all the tests on Linux and Windows shall be considered sufficient for a
+release, but of course, depending on changes going on, that might have
+to be expanded.
+
+Basic Tests
+===========
+
+You can run the "basic" tests like this:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./tests/basics/run_all.py search
+
+These tests normally give sufficient coverage to assume that a change is
+correct, if these "basic" tests pass. The most important constructs and
+built-ins are exercised.
+
+To control the Python version used for testing, you can set the
+``PYTHON`` environment variable to e.g. ``python3.5`` (can also be full
+path), or simply execute the ``run_all.py`` script directly with the
+intended version, as it is portable across all supported Python
+versions, and defaults testing with the Python version is run with.
+
+Syntax Tests
+============
+
+Then there are "syntax" tests, i.e. language constructs that need to
+give a syntax error.
+
+It sometimes so happens that Nuitka must do this itself, because the
+``ast.parse`` doesn't see the problem and raises no ``SyntaxError`` of
+its own. These cases are then covered by tests to make sure they work as
+expected.
+
+Using the ``global`` statement on a function argument is an example of
+this. These tests make sure that the errors of Nuitka and CPython are
+totally the same for this:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./tests/syntax/run_all.py search
+
+Program Tests
+=============
+
+Then there are small "programs" tests, that e.g. exercise many kinds of
+import tricks and are designed to reveal problems with inter-module
+behavior. These can be run like this:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./tests/programs/run_all.py search
+
+Generated Tests
+===============
+
+There are tests, which are generated from Jinja2 templates. They aim at
+e.g. combining at types with operations, in-place or not, or large
+constants. These can be run like this:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./tests/generated/run_all.py search
+
+Compile Nuitka with Nuitka
+==========================
+
+And there is the "compile itself" or "reflected" test. This test makes
+Nuitka compile itself and compare the resulting C++ when running
+compiled to non-compiled, which helps to find in-determinism.
+
+The test compiles every module of Nuitka into an extension module and
+all of Nuitka into a single binary.
+
+That test case also gives good coverage of the ``import`` mechanisms,
+because Nuitka uses a lot of packages and imports between them.
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   ./tests/reflected/compile_itself.py
+
+*********************
+ Internal/Plugin API
+*********************
+
+The documentation from the source code for both the Python and the C
+parts are published as `Nuitka API <https://nuitka.net/apidoc>`__ and
+arguably in a relatively bad shape as we started generating those with
+Doxygen only relatively late.
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   doxygen ./doc/Doxyfile
+   xdg-open html
+
+Improvements have already been implemented for plugins: The plugin base
+class defined in ``PluginBase.py`` (which is used as a template for all
+plugins) is fully documented in Doxygen now. The same is true for the
+recently added standard plugins ``NumpyPlugin.py`` and
+``TkinterPlugin.py``. These will be uploaded very soon.
+
+Going forward, this will also happen for the remaining standard plugins.
+
+Please find `here
+<https://github.com/Nuitka/Nuitka/blob/develop/UserPlugin-Creation.rst>`__
+a detailed description of how to write your own plugin.
+
+To learn about plugin option specification consult `this document
+<https://github.com/Nuitka/Nuitka/blob/develop/Using-Plugin-Options.rst>`__.
+
+*********************************
+ Working with the CPython suites
+*********************************
+
+Resetting CPython suites
+========================
+
+The CPython test suites are different branches of the same submodule.
+When you update your git checkout, they will frequently become detached.
+In this case, simply execute this command:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   git submodule foreach 'git fetch && git checkout $(basename $(pwd)) && \
+   git reset --hard origin/$(basename $(pwd))'
+
+Added new CPython suites
+========================
+
+When adding a test suite, for a new version, proceed like this, of
+course while adapting of course the names. These are the commands used
+for adding CPython313 based on the CPython312 branch.
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   # Switch to a new branch.
+   git checkout CPython312
+   git branch CPython313
+   git checkout CPython313
+
+   # Delete all but root commit
+   git reset --hard `git log --root --oneline --reverse | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1`
+
+   # Switch test data to upstream ones.
+   rm -rf test
+   cp -r ~/repos/Nuitka-references/final/Python-3.13.0/Lib/test test
+   git add test
+
+   # Update commit message to mention proper Python version.
+   git commit --amend -m "Initial commit of Python tests as in 3.13.0"
+
+   # Push to github, setting upstream for branch.
+   git push -u
+
+   # Cherry pick the removal commits from previous branches.
+   git log origin/CPython312 --reverse --oneline | grep ' Removed' | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs git cherry-pick
+   # When being prompted for merge conflicts with the deleted files:
+   git status | sed -n 's/deleted by them://p' | xargs git rm --ignore-unmatch x ; git cherry-pick --continue
+
+   # Push to github, this is useful.
+   git push
+
+   # Cherry pick the first commit of 'run_all.py', the copy it from the last state, and amend the commits.
+   git log --reverse origin/CPython312 --oneline -- run_all.py | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs git cherry-pick
+   git checkout origin/CPython312 -- run_all.py
+   chmod +x run_all.py
+   sed -i -e 's#python3.12#python3.13#' run_all.py
+   git commit --amend --no-edit run_all.py
+
+   # Same for 'update_doctest_generated.py'
+   git log --reverse origin/CPython312 --oneline -- update_doctest_generated.py | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs git cherry-pick
+   git checkout origin/CPython312 -- update_doctest_generated.py
+   chmod +x update_doctest_generated.py
+   sed -i -e 's#python3.12#python3.13#' update_doctest_generated.py
+   git commit --amend --no-edit update_doctest_generated.py
+
+   # Same for .gitignore
+   git log --reverse origin/CPython312 --oneline -- .gitignore | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs git cherry-pick
+   git checkout origin/CPython312 -- .gitignore
+   git commit --amend --no-edit .gitignore
+
+   # Now cherry-pick all commits of test support, these disable network, audio, GUI, random filenames and more
+   # and are crucial for deterministic outputs and non-reliance on outside stuff.
+   git log --reverse origin/CPython312 --oneline -- test/support/__init__.py | tail -n +2 | cut -d' ' -f1 | xargs git cherry-pick
+
+   git push
+
+*********************
+ Design Descriptions
+*********************
+
+These should be a lot more and contain graphics from presentations
+given. It will be filled in, but not now.
+
+Nuitka Logo
+===========
+
+The logo was submitted by "dr. Equivalent". It's source is contained in
+``doc/Logo`` where 3 variants of the logo in SVG are placed.
+
+-  Symbol only (symbol)
+
+.. code:: rest
+
+   .. image:: doc/images/Nuitka-Logo-Symbol.png
+      :alt: Nuitka Logo
+
+-  Text next to symbol (horizontal)
+
+.. code:: rest
+
+   .. image:: doc/images/Nuitka-Logo-Horizontal.png
+      :alt: Nuitka Logo
+
+-  Text beneath symbol (vertical)
+
+.. code:: rest
+
+   .. image:: doc/images/Nuitka-Logo-Vertical.png
+      :alt: Nuitka Logo
+
+From these logos, PNG images, and "favicons", and are derived.
+
+The exact ImageMagick commands are in
+``nuitka/tools/release/Documentation``, but are not executed each time,
+the commands are also replicated here:
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   convert -background none doc/Logo/Nuitka-Logo-Symbol.svg doc/images/Nuitka-Logo-Symbol.png
+   convert -background none doc/Logo/Nuitka-Logo-Vertical.svg doc/images/Nuitka-Logo-Vertical.png
+   convert -background none doc/Logo/Nuitka-Logo-Horizontal.svg doc/images/Nuitka-Logo-Horizontal.png
+
+Choice of the Target Language
+=============================
+
+-  Choosing the target language was important decision. factors were:
+
+   -  The portability of Nuitka is decided here
+   -  How difficult is it to generate the code?
+   -  Does the Python C-API have bindings?
+   -  Is that language known?
+   -  Does the language aid to find bugs?
+
+The *decision for C11* is ultimately one for portability, general
+knowledge of the language and for control over created code, e.g. being
+able to edit and try that quickly.
+
+The current status is to use pure C11. All code compiles as C11, and
+also in terms of workaround to missing compiler support as C++03. This
+is mostly needed, because MSVC does not support C. Naturally we are not
+using any C++ features, just the allowances of C++ features that made it
+into C11, which is e.g. allowing late definitions of variables.
+
+Use of Scons internally
+=======================
+
+Nuitka does not involve Scons in its user interface at all; Scons is
+purely used internally. Nuitka itself, being pure Python, will run
+without any build process just fine.
+
+Nuitka simply prepares ``<program>.build`` folders with lots of files
+and tasks scons to execute the final build, after which Nuitka again
+will take control and do more work as necessary.
+
+.. note::
+
+   When we speak of "standalone" mode, this is handled outside of Scons,
+   and after it, creating the ".dist" folder. This is done in
+   ``nuitka.MainControl`` module.
+
+For interfacing to Scons, there is the module
+``nuitka.build.SconsInterface`` that will support calling ``scons`` -
+potentially from one of two inline copies (one for before / one for
+Python 3.5 or later). These are mainly used on Windows or when using
+source releases - and passing arguments to it. These arguments are
+passed as ``key=value``, and decoded in the scons file of Nuitka.
+
+The scons file is named ``SingleExe.scons`` for lack of better name.
+It's really wrong now, but we have yet to find a better name. It once
+expressed the intention to be used to create executables, but the same
+works for modules too, as in terms of building, and to Scons, things
+really are the same.
+
+The scons file supports operation in multiple modes for many things, and
+modules is just one of them. It runs outside of Nuitka process scope,
+even with a different Python version potentially, so all the information
+must be passed on the command line.
+
+What follows is the (lengthy) list of arguments that the scons file
+processes:
+
+-  ``source_dir``
+
+   Where is the generated C source code. Scons will just compile
+   everything it finds there. No list of files is passed, but instead
+   this directory is being scanned.
+
+-  ``nuitka_src``
+
+   Where do the include files and static C parts of Nuitka live. These
+   provide e.g. the implementation of compiled function, generators, and
+   other helper codes, this will point to where ``nuitka.build`` package
+   lives normally.
+
+-  ``module_mode``
+
+   Build a module instead of a program.
+
+-  ``result_base``
+
+   This is not a full name, merely the basename for the result to be
+   produced, but with path included, and the suffix comes from module or
+   executable mode.
+
+-  ``debug_mode``
+
+   Enable debug mode, which is a mode, where Nuitka tries to help
+   identify errors in itself, and will generate less optimal code. This
+   also asks for warnings, and makes the build fail if there are any.
+   Scons will pass different compiler options in this case.
+
+-  ``python_debug``
+
+   Compile and link against Python debug mode, which does assertions and
+   extra checks, to identify errors, mostly related to reference
+   counting. May make the build fail, if no debug build library of
+   CPython is available. On Windows it is possible to install it for
+   CPython3.5 or higher.
+
+-  ``full_compat_mode``
+
+   Full compatibility, even where it's stupid, i.e. do not provide
+   information, even if available, in order to assert maximum
+   compatibility. Intended to control the level of compatibility to
+   absurd.
+
+-  ``experimental_mode``
+
+   Do things that are not yet accepted to be safe.
+
+-  ``lto_mode``
+
+   Make use of link time optimization of gcc compiler if available and
+   known good with the compiler in question. So far, this was not found
+   to make major differences.
+
+-  ``disable_console``
+
+   Windows subsystem mode: Disable console for windows builds.
+
+-  ``unstripped_mode``
+
+   Unstripped mode: Do not remove debug symbols.
+
+-  ``clang_mode``
+
+   Clang compiler mode, default on macOS X and FreeBSD, optional on
+   Linux.
+
+-  ``mingw_mode``
+
+   MinGW compiler mode, optional and useful on Windows only.
+
+-  ``standalone_mode``
+
+   Building a standalone distribution for the binary.
+
+-  ``show_scons``
+
+   Show scons mode, output information about Scons operation. This will
+   e.g. also output the actual compiler used, output from compilation
+   process, and generally debug information relating to be build
+   process.
+
+-  ``python_prefix``
+
+   Home of Python to be compiled against, used to locate headers and
+   libraries.
+
+-  ``target_arch``
+
+   Target architecture to build. Only meaningful on Windows.
+
+-  ``python_version``
+
+   The major version of Python built against.
+
+-  ``abiflags``
+
+   The flags needed for the Python ABI chosen. Might be necessary to
+   find the folders for Python installations on some systems.
+
+-  ``icon_path``
+
+   The icon to use for Windows programs if given.
+
+Locating Modules and Packages
+=============================
+
+The search for modules used is driven by ``nuitka.importing.Importing``
+module.
+
+-  Quoting the ``nuitka.importing.Importing`` documentation:
+
+   Locating modules and package source on disk.
+
+   The actual import of a module would already execute code that changes
+   things. Imagine a module that does ``os.system()``, it would be done
+   during compilation. People often connect to databases, and these kind
+   of things, at import time.
+
+   Therefore CPython exhibits the interfaces in an ``imp`` module in
+   standard library, which one can use those to know ahead of time, what
+   file import would load. For us unfortunately there is nothing in
+   CPython that is easily accessible and gives us this functionality for
+   packages and search paths exactly like CPython does, so we implement
+   here a multi step search process that is compatible.
+
+   This approach is much safer of course and there is no loss. To
+   determine if it's from the standard library, one can abuse the
+   attribute ``__file__`` of the ``os`` module like it's done in
+   ``isStandardLibraryPath`` of this module.
+
+   End quoting the ``nuitka.importing.Importing`` documentation.
+
+-  Role
+
+   This module serves the recursion into modules and analysis if a
+   module is a known one. It will give warnings for modules attempted to
+   be located, but not found. These warnings are controlled by a while
+   list inside the module.
+
+The decision making and caching are located in the ``nuitka.tree``
+package, in modules ``nuitka.tree.Recursion`` and
+``nuitka.tree.ImportCache``. Each module is only considered once (then
+cached), and we need to obey lots of user choices, e.g. to compile a
+standard library or not.
+
+Hooking for module ``import`` process
+=====================================
+
+Currently, in generated code, for every ``import`` a normal
+``__import__()`` built-in call is executed. The
+``nuitka/build/static_src/MetaPathBasedLoader.c`` file provides the
+implementation of a ``sys.meta_path`` hook.
+
+This meta path based importer allows us to have the Nuitka provided
+module imported even when imported by non-compiled code.
+
+.. note::
+
+   Of course, it would make sense to compile time detect which module it
+   is that is being imported and then to make it directly. At this time,
+   we don't have this inter-module optimization yet, mid-term it should
+   become easy to add.
+
+Supporting ``__class__`` of Python3
+===================================
+
+In Python3 the handling of ``__class__`` and ``super`` is different from
+Python2. It used to be a normal variable, and now the following things
+have changed.
+
+-  The use of the ``super`` variable name triggers the addition of a
+   closure variable ``__class__``, as can be witnessed by the following
+   code:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      class X:
+          def f1(self):
+              print(locals())
+
+          def f2(self):
+              print(locals())
+              super  # Just using the name, not even calling it.
+
+
+      x = X()
+      x.f1()
+      x.f2()
+
+   Output is:
+
+   .. code::
+
+      {'self': <__main__.X object at 0x7f1773762390>''} {'self':
+      <__main__.X object at 0x7f1773762390>, '__class__': <class
+      '__main__.X'>}
+
+-  This value of ``__class__`` is also available in the child functions.
+
+-  The parser marks up code objects usage of "super". It doesn't have to
+   be a call, it can also be a local variable. If the ``super`` built-in
+   is assigned to another name and that is used without arguments, it
+   won't work unless ``__class__`` is taken as a closure variable.
+
+-  As can be seen in the CPython3 code, the closure value is added after
+   the class creation is performed.
+
+-  It appears, that only functions locally defined to the class are
+   affected and take the closure.
+
+This left Nuitka with the strange problem, of how to emulate that.
+
+The solution is this:
+
+-  Under Python3, usage of ``__class__`` as a reference in a child
+   function body is mandatory. It remains that way until all variable
+   names have been resolved.
+
+-  When recognizing calls to ``super`` without arguments, make the arguments
+      into variable reference to ``__class__`` and potentially ``self``
+      (actually first argument name).
+
+-  After all variables have been known, and no suspicious unresolved
+   calls to anything named ``super`` are down, then unused references
+   are optimized away by the normal unused closure variable.
+
+-  Class dictionary definitions are added.
+
+   These are special direct function calls, ready to propagate also
+   "bases" and "metaclass" values, which need to be calculated outside.
+
+   The function bodies used for classes will automatically store
+   ``__class__`` as a shared local variable, if anything uses it. And if
+   it's not assigned by user code, it doesn't show up in the "locals()"
+   used for dictionary creation.
+
+   Existing ``__class__`` local variable values are in fact provided as
+   closure, and overridden with the built class , but they should be
+   used for the closure giving, before the class is finished.
+
+   So ``__class__`` will be local variable of the class body, until the
+   class is built, then it will be the ``__class__`` itself.
+
+Frame Stack
+===========
+
+In Python, every function, class, and module has a frame. It is created
+when the scope is entered, and there is a stack of these at run time,
+which becomes visible in tracebacks in case of exceptions.
+
+The choice of Nuitka is to make this an explicit element of the node
+tree, that are as such subject to optimization. In cases, where they are
+not needed, they may be removed.
+
+Consider the following code.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f():
+       if someNotRaisingCall():
+           return somePotentiallyRaisingCall()
+       else:
+           return None
+
+In this example, the frame is not needed for all the code, because the
+condition checked wouldn't possibly raise at all. The idea is the make
+the frame guard explicit and then to reduce its scope whenever possible.
+
+So we start out with code like this one:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f():
+       with frame_guard("f"):
+           if someNotRaisingCall():
+               return somePotentiallyRaisingCall()
+           else:
+               return None
+
+This is to be optimized into:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f():
+       if someNotRaisingCall():
+           with frame_guard("f"):
+               return somePotentiallyRaisingCall()
+       else:
+           return None
+
+Notice how the frame guard taking is limited and may be avoided, or in
+best cases, it might be removed completely. Also this will play a role
+when in-lining function. The frame stack entry will then be
+automatically preserved without extra care.
+
+.. note::
+
+   In the actual code, ``nuitka.nodes.FrameNodes.StatementsFrame`` is
+   represents this as a set of statements to be guarded by a frame
+   presence.
+
+Parameter Parsing
+=================
+
+The parsing of parameters is very convoluted in Python, and doing it in
+a compatible way is not that easy. This is a description of the required
+process, for an easier overview.
+
+Input
+-----
+
+The input is an argument ``tuple`` (the type is fixed), which contains
+the positional arguments, and potentially an argument ``dict`` (type is
+fixed as well, but could also be ``NULL``, indicating that there are no
+keyword arguments.
+
+Keyword dictionary
+------------------
+
+The keyword argument dictionary is checked first. Anything in there,
+that cannot be associated, either raise an error, or is added to a
+potentially given star dict argument. So there are two major cases.
+
+-  No star dict argument: Iterate over dictionary, and assign or raise
+   errors.
+
+   This check covers extra arguments given.
+
+-  With star dict argument: Iterate over dictionary, and assign or raise
+   errors.
+
+   Interesting case for optimization are no positional arguments, then
+   no check is needed, and the keyword argument dictionary could be used
+   as the star argument. Should it change, a copy is needed though.
+
+What's noteworthy here, is that in comparison to the keywords, we can
+hope that they are the same value as we use. The interning of strings
+increases chances for non-compiled code to do that, esp. for short
+names.
+
+We then can do a simple ``is`` comparison and only fall back to real
+string ``==`` comparisons, after all of these failed. That means more
+code, but also a lot faster code in the positive case.
+
+Argument tuple
+--------------
+
+After this completed, the argument tuple is up for processing. The first
+thing it needs to do is to check if it's too many of them, and then to
+complain.
+
+For arguments in Python2, there is the possibility of them being nested,
+in which case they cannot be provided in the keyword dictionary, and
+merely should get picked from the argument tuple.
+
+Otherwise, the length of the argument tuple should be checked against
+its position and if possible, values should be taken from there. If it's
+already set (from the keyword dictionary), raise an error instead.
+
+SSA form for Nuitka
+===================
+
+The SSA form is critical to how optimization works. The so called trace
+collections builds up traces. These are facts about how this works:
+
+-  Assignments draw from a counter unique for the variable, which
+   becomes the variable version. This happens during tree building
+   phase.
+
+-  References are associated with the version of the variable active.
+
+   This can be a merge of branches. Trace collection does do that and
+   provides nodes with the currently active trace for a variable.
+
+The data structures used for trace collection need to be relatively
+compact as the trace information can become easily much more data than
+the program itself.
+
+Every trace collection has these:
+
+-  variable_actives
+
+   Dictionary, where per "variable" the currently used version is. Used
+   to track situations changes in branches. This is the main input for
+   merge process.
+
+-  variable_traces
+
+   Dictionary, where "variable" and "version" form the key. The values
+   are objects with or without an assignment, and a list of usages,
+   which starts out empty.
+
+   These objects have usages appended to them. In "onVariableSet", a new
+   version is allocated, which gives a new object for the dictionary,
+   with an empty usages list, because each write starts a new version.
+   In "onVariableUsage" the version is detected from the current
+   version. It may be not set yet, which means, it's a read of an
+   undefined value (local variable, not a parameter name), or unknown in
+   case of global variable.
+
+   These objects may be told that their value has escaped. This should
+   influence the value friend they attached to the initial assignment.
+   Each usage may have a current value friend state that is different.
+
+When merging branches of conditional statements, the merge shall apply
+as follows:
+
+-  Branches have their own collection
+
+   Thee have potentially deviating sets of ``variable_actives``. These
+   are children of an outer collections.
+
+-  Case a) One branch only.
+
+   For that branch a collection is performed. As usual new assignments
+   generate a new version making it "active", references then related to
+   these "active" versions.
+
+   Then, when the branch is merged, for all "active" variables, it is
+   considered, if that is a change related to before the branch. If it's
+   not the same, a merge trace with the branch condition is created with
+   the one active in the collection before that statement.
+
+-  Case b) Two branches.
+
+   When there are two branches, they both as are treated as above,
+   except for the merge.
+
+   When merging, a difference in active variables between the two
+   branches creates the merge trace.
+
+.. note::
+
+   For conditional expressions, there are always only two branches. Even
+   if you think you have more than one branch, you do not. It's always
+   nested branches, already when it comes out of the ``ast`` parser.
+
+Trace structure, there are different kinds of traces.
+
+-  Initial write of the version
+
+   There may be an initial write for each version. It can only occur at
+   the start of the scope, but not later, and there is only one. This
+   might be known to be "initialized" (parameter variables of functions
+   are like that) or "uninitialized", or "unknown".
+
+-  Merge of other one or two other versions
+
+   This combines two or more previous versions. In cases of loop exits
+   or entries, there are multiple branches to combine potentially. These
+   branches can have vastly different properties.
+
+-  Becoming unknown.
+
+   When control flow escapes, e.g. for a module variable, any write can
+   occur to it, and it's value cannot be trusted to be unchanged. These
+   are then traced as unknown.
+
+All traces have a base class ``ValueTraceBase`` which provides the
+interface to query facts about the state of a variable in that trace.
+It's e.g. of some interest, if a variable must have a value or must not.
+This allows to e.g. omit checks, know what exceptions might raise.
+
+Loop SSA
+========
+
+For loops we have the addition difficulty that we need would need to
+look ahead what types a variable has at loop exit, but that is a cyclic
+dependency.
+
+Our solution is to consider the variable types at loop entry. When these
+change, we drop all gained information from inside the loop. We may e.g.
+think that a variable is a ``int`` or ``float``, but later recognize
+that it can only be a float. Derivations from ``int`` must be discarded,
+and the loop analysis restarted.
+
+Then during the loop, we assign an incomplete loop trace shape to the
+variable, which e.g. says it was an ``int`` initially and additional
+type shapes, e.g. ``int or long`` are then derived. If at the end of the
+loop, a type produced no new types, we know we are finished and mark the
+trace as a complete loop trace.
+
+If it is not, and next time, we have the same initial types, we add the
+ones derived from this to the starting values, and see if this gives
+more types.
+
+Python Slots in Optimization
+============================
+
+Basic Slot Idea
+---------------
+
+For almost all the operations in Python, a form of overloading is
+available. That is what makes it so powerful.
+
+So when you write an expression like this one:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   1.0 + something
+
+This something will not just blindly work when it's a float, but go
+through a slot mechanism, which then can be overloaded.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   class SomeStrangeFloat:
+       def __float__(self):
+           return 3.14
+
+
+   something = SomeStrangeFloat()
+   # ...
+   1.0 + float(something) // 4.140000000000001
+
+Here it is the case, that this is used by user code, but more often this
+is used internally. Not all types have all slots, e.g. ``list`` does not
+have ``__float__`` and therefore will refuse an addition to a ``float``
+value, based on that.
+
+Another slot is working here, that we didn't mention yet, and that is
+``__add__`` which for some times will be these kinds of conversions or
+it will not do that kind of thing, e.g. something do hard checks, which
+is why this fails to work:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   [] + ()
+
+As a deliberate choice, there is no ``__list__`` slot used. The Python
+designers are aiming at solving many things with slots, but they also
+accept limitations.
+
+There are many slots that are frequently used, most often behind your
+back (``__iter__``, ``__next__``, ``__lt__``, etc.). The list is large,
+and tends to grow with Python releases, but it is not endless.
+
+Representation in Nuitka
+------------------------
+
+So a slot in Nuitka typically has an owning node. We use ``__len__`` as
+an example here. In the ``computeExpression`` the ``len`` node named
+``ExpressionBuiltinLen`` has to defer the decision what it computes to
+its argument.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def computeExpression(self, trace_collection):
+       return self.subnode_value.computeExpressionLen(
+           len_node=self, trace_collection=trace_collection
+       )
+
+That decision then, in the absence of any type knowledge, must be done
+absolutely carefully and conservative, as could see anything executing
+here.
+
+That examples this code in ``ExpressionBase`` which every expression by
+default uses:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def computeExpressionLen(self, len_node, trace_collection):
+       shape = self.getValueShape()
+
+       has_len = shape.hasShapeSlotLen()
+
+       if has_len is False:
+           return makeRaiseTypeErrorExceptionReplacementFromTemplateAndValue(
+               template="object of type '%s' has no len()",
+               operation="len",
+               original_node=len_node,
+               value_node=self,
+           )
+       elif has_len is True:
+           iter_length = self.getIterationLength()
+
+           if iter_length is not None:
+               from .ConstantRefNodes import makeConstantRefNode
+
+               result = makeConstantRefNode(
+                   constant=int(iter_length),  # make sure to downcast long
+                   source_ref=len_node.getSourceReference(),
+               )
+
+               result = wrapExpressionWithNodeSideEffects(new_node=result, old_node=self)
+
+               return (
+                   result,
+                   "new_constant",
+                   "Predicted 'len' result from value shape.",
+               )
+
+       self.onContentEscapes(trace_collection)
+
+       # Any code could be run, note that.
+       trace_collection.onControlFlowEscape(self)
+
+       # Any exception may be raised.
+       trace_collection.onExceptionRaiseExit(BaseException)
+
+       return len_node, None, None
+
+Notice how by default, known ``__len__`` but unpredictable or even
+unknown if a ``__len__`` slot is there, the code indicates that its
+contents and the control flow escapes (could change things behind out
+back) and any exception could happen.
+
+Other expressions can know better, e.g. for compile time constants we
+can be a whole lot more certain:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def computeExpressionLen(self, len_node, trace_collection):
+       return trace_collection.getCompileTimeComputationResult(
+           node=len_node,
+           computation=lambda: len(self.getCompileTimeConstant()),
+           description="""Compile time constant len value pre-computed.""",
+       )
+
+In this case, we are using a function that will produce a concrete value
+or the exception that the ``computation`` function raised. In this case,
+we can let the Python interpreter that runs Nuitka do all the hard work.
+This lives in ``CompileTimeConstantExpressionBase`` and is the base for
+all kinds of constant values, or even built-in references like the name
+``len`` itself and would be used in case of doing ``len(len)`` which
+obviously gives an exception.
+
+Other overloads do not currently exist in Nuitka, but through the
+iteration length, most cases could be addressed, e.g. ``list`` nodes
+typical know their element counts.
+
+The C side
+==========
+
+When a slot is not optimized away at compile time however, we need to
+generate actual code for it. We figure out what this could be by looking
+at the original CPython implementation.
+
+.. code:: C
+
+   PyObject *builtin_len(PyObject *self, PyObject *v) {
+       Py_ssize_t res;
+
+       res = PyObject_Size(v);
+       if (res < 0 && PyErr_Occurred())
+           return NULL;
+       return PyInt_FromSsize_t(res);
+   }
+
+We find a pointer to ``PyObject_Size`` which is a generic Python C/API
+function used in the ``builtin_len`` implementation:
+
+.. code:: C
+
+   Py_ssize_t PyObject_Size(PyObject *o) {
+       PySequenceMethods *m;
+
+       if (o == NULL) {
+           null_error();
+           return -1;
+       }
+
+       m = o->ob_type->tp_as_sequence;
+       if (m && m->sq_length)
+           return m->sq_length(o);
+
+       return PyMapping_Size(o);
+   }
+
+On the C level, every Python object (the ``PyObject *``) as a type named
+``ob_type`` and most of its elements are slots. Sometimes they form a
+group, here ``tp_as_sequence`` and then it may or may not contain a
+function. This one is tried in preference. Then, if that fails, next up
+the mapping size is tried.
+
+.. code:: C
+
+   Py_ssize_t PyMapping_Size(PyObject *o) {
+       PyMappingMethods *m;
+
+       if (o == NULL) {
+           null_error();
+           return -1;
+       }
+
+       m = o->ob_type->tp_as_mapping;
+       if (m && m->mp_length)
+           return m->mp_length(o);
+
+       type_error("object of type '%.200s' has no len()", o);
+       return -1;
+   }
+
+This is the same principle, except with ``tp_as_mapping`` and
+``mp_length`` used.
+
+So from this, we can tell how ``len`` gets at what could be a Python
+class ``__len__`` or other built-in types.
+
+In principle, every slot needs to be dealt with in Nuitka, and it is
+assumed that currently all slots are supported on at least a very
+defensive level, to avoid unnoticed escapes of control flow.
+
+Built-in call optimization
+==========================
+
+For calls to built-in names, there is typically a function in Python
+that delegates to the type constructor (e.g. when we talk about ``int``
+that just creates an object passing the arguments of the call) or its
+own special implementation as we saw with the ``len``.
+
+For each built-in called, we have a specialized node, that presents to
+optimization the actions of the built-in. What are the impact, what are
+the results. We have seen the resulting example for ``len`` above, but
+how do we get there.
+
+In Python, built-in names are used only if there is no module level
+variable of the name, and of course no local variable of that name.
+
+Therefore, optimization of a built-in name is only done if it turns out
+the actually assigned in other code, and then when the call comes,
+arguments are checked and a relatively static node is created.
+
+Code Generation towards C
+=========================
+
+Currently, Nuitka uses Pure C and no C++ patterns at all. The use of C11
+requires on some platforms to compile the C11 using a C++ compiler,
+which works relatively well, but also limits the amount of C11 that can
+be used.
+
+Exceptions
+----------
+
+To handle and work with exceptions, every construct that can raise has
+either a ``bool`` or ``int`` return code or ``PyObject *`` with ``NULL``
+return value. This is very much in line with that the Python C-API does.
+
+Every helper function that contains code that might raise needs these
+variables. After a failed call, our variant of ``PyErr_Fetch`` called
+``FETCH_ERROR_OCCURRED_STATE`` must be used to catch the defined error,
+unless some quick exception cases apply. The quick exception means,
+``NULL`` return from C-API without a set exception means e.g.
+``StopIteration``.
+
+As an optimization, functions that raise exceptions, but are known not
+to do so, for whatever reason, could only be asserted to not do so.
+
+Statement Temporary Variables
+-----------------------------
+
+For statements and larger constructs the context object track temporary
+values, that represent references. For some, these should be released at
+the end of the statement, or they represent a leak.
+
+The larger scope temporary variables, are tracked in the function or
+module context, where they are supposed to have explicit ``del`` to
+release their references.
+
+Local Variables Storage
+-----------------------
+
+Closure variables taken are to be released when the function object is
+later destroyed. For in-lined calls, variables are just passed, and it
+does not become an issue to release anything.
+
+For function exit, owned variables, local or shared to other functions,
+must be released. This cannot be a ``del`` operation, as it also
+involves setting a value, which would be wrong for shared variables (and
+wasteful to local variables, as that would be its last usage). Therefore
+we need a special operation that simply releases the reference to the
+cell or object variable.
+
+Exit Targets
+------------
+
+Each error or other exit releases statement temporary values and then
+executes a ``goto`` to the exit target. These targets need to be setup.
+The ``try``/``except`` will e.g. catch error exits.
+
+Other exits are ``continue``, ``break``, and ``return`` exits. They all
+work alike.
+
+Generally, the exits stack of with constructs that need to register
+themselves for some exit types. A loop e.g. registers the ``continue``
+exit, and a contained ``try``/``finally`` too, so it can execute the
+final code should it be needed.
+
+Frames
+------
+
+Frames are containers for variable declarations and cleanups. As such,
+frames provide error exits and success exits, which remove the frame
+from the frame stack, and then proceed to the parent exit.
+
+With the use of non ``PyObject **`` C types, but frame exception exits,
+the need to convert those types becomes apparent. Exceptions should
+still resolve the C version. When using different C types at frame
+exception exits, there is a need to trace the active type, so it can be
+used in the correct form.
+
+Abortive Statements
+-------------------
+
+The way ``try``/``finally`` is handled, copies of the ``finally`` block
+are made, and optimized independently for each abort method. The ones
+there are of course, ``return``, ``continue``, and ``break``, but also
+implicit and explicit ``raise`` of an exception.
+
+Code trailing an abortive statement can be discarded, and the control
+flow will follow these "exits".
+
+Constant Preparation
+====================
+
+Early versions of Nuitka, created all constants for the whole program
+for ready access to generated code, before the program launches. It did
+so in a single file, but that approach didn't scale well.
+
+Problems were
+
+-  Even unused code contributed to start-up time, this can become a lot
+   for large programs, especially in standalone mode.
+
+-  The massive amount of constant creation codes gave backend C
+   compilers a much harder time than necessary to analyse it all at
+   once.
+
+The current approach is as follows. Code generation detects constants
+used in only one module, and declared ``static`` there, if the module is
+the only user, or ``extern`` if it is not. Some values are forced to be
+global, as they are used pre-main or in helpers.
+
+These ``extern`` values are globally created before anything is used.
+The ``static`` values are created when the module is loaded, i.e.
+something did import it.
+
+We trace used constants per module, and for nested ones, we also
+associate them. The global constants code is special in that it can only
+use ``static`` for nested values it exclusively uses, and has to export
+values that others use.
+
+Language Conversions to make things simpler
+===========================================
+
+There are some cases, where the Python language has things that can in
+fact be expressed in a simpler or more general way, and where we choose
+to do that at either tree building or optimization time.
+
+The ``assert`` statement
+------------------------
+
+The ``assert`` statement is a special statement in Python, allowed by
+the syntax. It has two forms, with and without a second argument. The
+later is probably less known, as is the fact that raise statements can
+have multiple arguments too.
+
+The handling in Nuitka is:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   assert value
+   # Absolutely the same as:
+   if not value:
+       raise AssertionError
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   assert value, raise_arg
+   # Absolutely the same as:
+   if not value:
+       raise AssertionError(raise_arg)
+
+This makes assertions absolutely the same as a raise exception in a
+conditional statement.
+
+This transformation is performed at tree building already, so Nuitka
+never knows about ``assert`` as an element and standard optimizations
+apply. If e.g. the truth value of the assertion can be predicted, the
+conditional statement will have the branch statically executed or
+removed.
+
+The "comparison chain" expressions
+----------------------------------
+
+In Nuitka we have the concept of an outline, and therefore we can make
+the following re-formulation instead:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a < b() > c < d
+
+
+   def _comparison_chain():  # So called "outline" function
+       tmp_a = a
+       tmp_b = b()
+
+       tmp = tmp_a < tmp_b
+
+       if not tmp:
+           return tmp
+
+       del tmp_a
+       tmp_c = c
+
+       tmp = tmp_b > tmp_c
+
+       if not tmp:
+           return tmp
+
+       del tmp_b
+
+       return tmp_c < d
+
+
+   _comparison_chain()
+
+This transformation is performed at tree building already. The temporary
+variables keep the value for the use of the same expression. Only the
+last expression needs no temporary variable to keep it.
+
+What we got from this, is making the checks of the comparison chain
+explicit and comparisons in Nuitka to be internally always about two
+operands only.
+
+The ``execfile`` built-in
+-------------------------
+
+Handling is:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   execfile(filename)
+   # Basically the same as:
+   exec(compile(open(filename).read()), filename, "exec")
+
+.. note::
+
+   This allows optimizations to discover the file opening nature easily
+   and apply file embedding or whatever we will have there one day.
+
+This transformation is performed when the ``execfile`` built-in is
+detected as such during optimization.
+
+Generator expressions with ``yield``
+------------------------------------
+
+These are converted at tree building time into a generator function body
+that yields from the iterator given, which is the put into a for loop to
+iterate, created a lambda function of and then called with the first
+iterator.
+
+That eliminates the generator expression for this case. It's a bizarre
+construct and with this trick needs no special code generation.
+
+This is a complex example, demonstrating multiple cases of yield in
+unexpected cases:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   x = ((yield i) for i in (1, 2) if not (yield))
+   # Basically the same as:
+   def x():
+       for i in (1, 2):
+           if not (yield):
+               yield (yield i)
+
+Function Decorators
+-------------------
+
+When one learns about decorators, you see that:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   @decorator
+   def function():
+       pass
+
+
+   # Is basically the same as:
+   def function():
+       pass
+
+
+   function = decorator(function)
+
+The only difference is the assignment to function. In the ``@decorator``
+case, if the decorator fails with an exception, the name ``function`` is
+not assigned yet, but kept in a temporary variable.
+
+Therefore in Nuitka this assignment is more similar to that of a lambda
+expression, where the assignment to the name is only at the end, which
+also has the extra benefit of not treating real function and lambda
+functions any different.
+
+This removes the need for optimization and code generation to support
+decorators at all. And it should make the two variants optimize equally
+well.
+
+Functions nested arguments
+--------------------------
+
+Nested arguments are a Python2 only feature supported by Nuitka.
+Consider this example:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def function(a, (b, c)):
+       return a, b, c
+
+We solve this, by kind of wrapping the function with another function
+that does the unpacking and gives the errors that come from this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def function(a, _1):
+       def _tmp(a, b, c):
+           return a, b, c
+
+       a, b = _1
+       return _tmp(a, b, c)
+
+The ``.1`` is the variable name used by CPython internally, and actually
+works if you use keyword arguments via star dictionary. So this is very
+compatible and actually the right kind of re-formulation, but it removes
+the need from the code that does parameter parsing to deal with these.
+
+Obviously, there is no frame for ``_tmp``, just one for ``function`` and
+we do not use local variables, but temporary functions.
+
+In-place Assignments
+--------------------
+
+In-place assignments are re-formulated to an expression using temporary
+variables.
+
+These are not as much a reformulation of ``+=`` to ``+``, but instead
+one which makes it explicit that the assign target may change its value.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a += b
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   _tmp = a.__iadd__(b)
+
+   if a is not _tmp:
+       a = _tmp
+
+Using ``__iadd__`` here to express that for the ``+``, the in-place
+variant ``iadd`` is used instead. The ``is`` check may be optimized away
+depending on type and value knowledge later on.
+
+Complex Assignments
+-------------------
+
+Complex assignments are defined as those with multiple targets to assign
+from a single source and are re-formulated to such using a temporary
+variable and multiple simple assignments instead.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = b = c
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   _tmp = c
+   a = _tmp
+   b = _tmp
+   del _tmp
+
+This is possible, because in Python, if one assignment fails, it can
+just be interrupted, so in fact, they are sequential, and all that is
+required is to not calculate ``c`` twice, which the temporary variable
+takes care of. Were ``b`` a more complex expression, e.g.
+``b.some_attribute`` that might raise an exception, ``a`` would still be
+assigned.
+
+Unpacking Assignments
+---------------------
+
+Unpacking assignments are re-formulated to use temporary variables as
+well.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a, b.attr, c[ind] = d = e, f, g = h()
+
+Becomes this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   _tmp = h()
+
+   _iter1 = iter(_tmp)
+   _tmp1 = unpack(_iter1, 3)
+   _tmp2 = unpack(_iter1, 3)
+   _tmp3 = unpack(_iter1, 3)
+   unpack_check(_iter1)
+   a = _tmp1
+   b.attr = _tmp2
+   c[ind] = _tmp3
+   d = _tmp
+   _iter2 = iter(_tmp)
+   _tmp4 = unpack(_iter2, 3)
+   _tmp5 = unpack(_iter2, 3)
+   _tmp6 = unpack(_iter2, 3)
+   unpack_check(_iter1)
+   e = _tmp4
+   f = _tmp5
+   g = _tmp6
+
+That way, the unpacking is decomposed into multiple simple statements.
+It will be the job of optimizations to try and remove unnecessary
+unpacking, in case e.g. the source is a known tuple or list creation.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The ``unpack`` is a special node which is a form of ``next`` that
+   will raise a ``ValueError`` when it cannot get the next value, rather
+   than a ``StopIteration``. The message text contains the number of
+   values to unpack, therefore the integer argument.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The ``unpack_check`` is a special node that raises a ``ValueError``
+   exception if the iterator is not finished, i.e. there are more values
+   to unpack. Again the number of values to unpack is provided to
+   construct the error message.
+
+With Statements
+---------------
+
+The ``with`` statements are re-formulated to use temporary variables as
+well. The taking and calling of ``__enter__`` and ``__exit__`` with
+arguments, is presented with standard operations instead. The promise to
+call ``__exit__`` is fulfilled by ``try``/``except`` clause instead.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   with some_context as x:
+       something(x)
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   tmp_source = some_context
+
+   # Actually it needs to be "special look-up" for Python2.7, so attribute
+   # look-up won't be exactly what is there.
+   tmp_exit = tmp_source.__exit__
+
+   # This one must be held for the whole with statement, it may be assigned
+   # or not, in our example it is. If an exception occurs when calling
+   # ``__enter__``, the ``__exit__`` should not be called.
+   tmp_enter_result = tmp_source.__enter__()
+
+   # Indicator variable to know if "tmp_exit" has been called.
+   tmp_indicator = False
+
+   try:
+       # Now the assignment is to be done, if there is any name for the
+       # manager given, this may become multiple assignment statements and
+       # even unpacking ones.
+       x = tmp_enter_result
+
+       # Then the code of the "with" block.
+       something(x)
+   except Exception:
+       # Note: This part of the code must not set line numbers, which we
+       # indicate with special source code references, which we call "internal".
+       # Otherwise the line of the frame would get corrupted.
+
+       tmp_indicator = True
+
+       if not tmp_exit(*sys.exc_info()):
+           raise
+   finally:
+       if not tmp_indicator:
+           # Call the exit if no exception occurred with all arguments
+           # as "None".
+           tmp_exit(None, None, None)
+
+.. note::
+
+   We don't refer really to ``sys.exc_info()`` at all, instead, we have
+   fast references to the current exception type, value and trace, taken
+   directly from the caught exception object on the C level.
+
+   If we had the ability to optimize ``sys.exc_info()`` to do that, we
+   could use the same transformation, but right now we don't have it.
+
+For Loops
+---------
+
+The ``for`` loops use normal assignments and handle the iterator that is
+implicit in the code explicitly.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   for x, y in iterable:
+       if something(x):
+           break
+   else:
+       otherwise()
+
+This is roughly equivalent to the following code:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   _iter = iter(iterable)
+   _no_break_indicator = False
+
+   while 1:
+       try:
+           _tmp_value = next(_iter)
+       except StopIteration:
+           # Set the indicator that the else branch may be executed.
+           _no_break_indicator = True
+
+           # Optimization should be able to tell that the else branch is run
+           # only once.
+           break
+
+       # Normal assignment re-formulation applies to this assignment of course.
+       x, y = _tmp_value
+       del _tmp_value
+
+       if something(x):
+           break
+
+   if _no_break_indicator:
+       otherwise()
+
+.. note::
+
+   The ``_iter`` temporary variable is of course also in a
+   ``try/finally`` construct, to make sure it releases after its used.
+   The ``x, y`` assignment is of course subject to unpacking
+   re-formulation.
+
+   The ``try``/``except`` is detected to allow to use a variant of
+   ``next`` that does not raise an exception, but to be fast check about
+   the ``NULL`` return from ``next`` built-in. So no actual exception
+   handling is happening in this case.
+
+While Loops
+-----------
+
+Quoting the ``nuitka.tree.ReformulationWhileLoopStatements``
+documentation:
+
+Reformulation of while loop statements.
+
+Loops in Nuitka have no condition attached anymore, so while loops are
+re-formulated like this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   while condition:
+       something()
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   while 1:
+       if not condition:
+           break
+
+       something()
+
+This is to totally remove the specialization of loops, with the
+condition moved to the loop body in an initial conditional statement,
+which contains a ``break`` statement.
+
+That achieves, that only ``break`` statements exit the loop, and allow
+for optimization to remove always true loop conditions, without
+concerning code generation about it, and to detect such a situation,
+consider e.g. endless loops.
+
+.. note::
+
+   Loop analysis (not yet done) can then work on a reduced problem
+   (which ``break`` statements are executed under what conditions) and
+   is then automatically very general.
+
+   The fact that the loop body may not be entered at all, is still
+   optimized, but also in the general sense. Explicit breaks at the loop
+   start and loop conditions are the same.
+
+End quoting the ``nuitka.tree.ReformulationWhileLoopStatements``
+documentation:
+
+Exception Handlers
+------------------
+
+Exception handlers in Python may assign the caught exception value to a
+variable in the handler definition. And the different handlers are
+represented as conditional checks on the result of comparison
+operations.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   try:
+       block()
+   except A as e:
+       handlerA(e)
+   except B as e:
+       handlerB(e)
+   else:
+       handlerElse()
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   try:
+       block()
+   except:
+       # These are special nodes that access the exception, and don't really
+       # use the "sys" module.
+       tmp_exc_type = sys.exc_info()[0]
+       tmp_exc_value = sys.exc_info()[1]
+
+       # exception_matches is a comparison operation, also a special node.
+       if exception_matches(tmp_exc_type, (A,)):
+           e = tmp_exc_value
+           handlerA(e)
+       elif exception_matches(tmp_exc_type, (B,)):
+           e = tmp_exc_value
+           handlerB(e)
+       else:
+           handlerElse()
+
+For Python3, the assigned ``e`` variables get deleted at the end of the
+handler block. Should that value be already deleted, that ``del`` does
+not raise, therefore it's tolerant. This has to be done in any case, so
+for Python3 it is even more complex.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   try:
+       block()
+   except:
+       # These are special nodes that access the exception, and don't really
+       # use the "sys" module.
+       tmp_exc_type = sys.exc_info()[0]
+       tmp_exc_value = sys.exc_info()[1]
+
+       # exception_matches is a comparison operation, also a special node.
+       if exception_matches(tmp_exc_type, (A,)):
+           try:
+               e = tmp_exc_value
+               handlerA(e)
+           finally:
+               del e
+       elif exception_matches(tmp_exc_type, (B,)):
+           try:
+               e = tmp_exc_value
+               handlerB(e)
+           finally:
+               del e
+       else:
+           handlerElse()
+
+Should there be no ``else:`` branch, a default re-raise statement is
+used instead.
+
+And of course, the values of the current exception type and value, both
+use special references, that access the C++ and don't go via
+``sys.exc_info`` at all, nodes called ``CaughtExceptionTypeRef`` and
+``CaughtExceptionValueRef``.
+
+This means, that the different handlers and their catching run time
+behavior are all explicit and reduced the branches.
+
+Statement ``try``/``except`` with ``else``
+------------------------------------------
+
+Much like ``else`` branches of loops, an indicator variable is used to
+indicate the entry into any of the exception handlers.
+
+Therefore, the ``else`` becomes a real conditional statement in the node
+tree, checking the indicator variable and guarding the execution of the
+``else`` branch.
+
+Class Creation (Python2)
+------------------------
+
+Classes in Python2 have a body that only serves to build the class
+dictionary and is a normal function otherwise. This is expressed with
+the following re-formulation:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # in module "SomeModule"
+   # ...
+
+
+   class SomeClass(SomeBase, AnotherBase):
+       """ This is the class documentation. """
+
+       some_member = 3
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _makeSomeClass():
+       # The module name becomes a normal local variable too.
+       __module__ = "SomeModule"
+
+       # The doc string becomes a normal local variable.
+       __doc__ = """ This is the class documentation. """
+
+       some_member = 3
+
+       return locals()
+
+       # force locals to be a writable dictionary, will be optimized away, but
+       # that property will stick. This is only to express, that locals(), where
+       # used will be writable to.
+       exec("")
+
+
+   SomeClass = make_class("SomeClass", (SomeBase, AnotherBase), _makeSomeClass())
+
+That is roughly the same, except that ``_makeSomeClass`` is *not*
+visible to its child functions when it comes to closure taking, which we
+cannot express in Python language at all.
+
+Therefore, class bodies are just special function bodies that create a
+dictionary for use in class creation. They don't really appear after the
+tree building stage anymore. The type inference will of course have to
+become able to understand ``make_class`` quite well, so it can recognize
+the created class again.
+
+Class Creation (Python3)
+------------------------
+
+In Python3, classes are a complicated way to write a function call, that
+can interact with its body. The body starts with a dictionary provided
+by the metaclass, so that is different, because it can ``__prepare__`` a
+non-empty locals for it, which is hidden away in "prepare_class_dict"
+below.
+
+What's noteworthy, is that this dictionary, could e.g. be an
+``OrderDict``. I am not sure, what ``__prepare__`` is allowed to return.
+
+.. code:: python3
+
+   # in module "SomeModule"
+   # ...
+
+   class SomeClass(SomeBase, AnotherBase, metaclass = SomeMetaClass):
+       """ This is the class documentation. """
+
+       some_member = 3
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # Non-keyword arguments, need to be evaluated first.
+   tmp_bases = (SomeBase, AnotherBase)
+
+   # Keyword arguments go next, __metaclass__ is just one of them. In principle
+   # we need to forward the others as well, but this is ignored for the sake of
+   # brevity.
+   tmp_metaclass = select_metaclass(tmp_bases, SomeMetaClass)
+
+   tmp_prepared = tmp_metaclass.__prepare__("SomeClass", tmp_bases)
+
+   # The function that creates the class dictionary. Receives temporary variables
+   # to work with.
+   def _makeSomeClass():
+       # This has effect, currently I don't know how to express that in Python3
+       # syntax, but we will have a node that does that.
+       locals().replace(tmp_prepared)
+
+       # The module name becomes a normal local variable too.
+       __module__ = "SomeModule"
+
+       # The doc string becomes a normal local variable.
+       __doc__ = """ This is the class documentation. """
+
+       some_member = 3
+
+       # Create the class, share the potential closure variable "__class__"
+       # with others.
+       __class__ = tmp_metaclass("SomeClass", tmp_bases, locals())
+
+       return __class__
+
+
+   # Build and assign the class.
+   SomeClass = _makeSomeClass()
+
+Generator Expressions
+---------------------
+
+There are re-formulated as functions.
+
+Generally they are turned into calls of function bodies with
+(potentially nested) for loops:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   gen = (x * 2 for x in range(8) if cond())
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _gen_helper(__iterator):
+       for x in __iterator:
+           if cond():
+               yield x * 2
+
+
+   gen = _gen_helper(range(8))
+
+List Contractions
+-----------------
+
+The list contractions of Python2 are different from those of Python3, in
+that they don't actually do any closure variable taking, and that no
+function object ever exists.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   list_value = [x * 2 for x in range(8) if cond()]
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _listcontr_helper(__iterator):
+       result = []
+
+       for x in __iterator:
+           if cond():
+               result.append(x * 2)
+
+       return result
+
+
+   list_value = _listcontr_helper(range(8))
+
+The difference is that with Python3, the function "_listcontr_helper" is
+really there and named ``<listcontraction>`` (or ``<listcomp>`` as of
+Python3.7 or higher), whereas with Python2 the function is only an
+outline, so it can readily access the containing name space.
+
+Set Contractions
+----------------
+
+The set contractions of Python2.7 are like list contractions in Python3,
+in that they produce an actual helper function:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   set_value = {x * 2 for x in range(8) if cond()}
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _setcontr_helper(__iterator):
+       result = set()
+
+       for x in __iterator:
+           if cond():
+               result.add(x * 2)
+
+       return result
+
+
+   set_value = _setcontr_helper(range(8))
+
+Dictionary Contractions
+-----------------------
+
+The dictionary contractions of are like list contractions in Python3, in
+that they produce an actual helper function:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   dict_value = {x: x * 2 for x in range(8) if cond()}
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _dictcontr_helper(__iterator):
+       result = {}
+
+       for x in __iterator:
+           if cond():
+               result[x] = x * 2
+
+       return result
+
+
+   set_value = _dictcontr_helper(range(8))
+
+Boolean expressions ``and`` and ``or``
+--------------------------------------
+
+The short circuit operators ``or`` and ``and`` tend to be only less
+general that the ``if``/``else`` expressions, but have dedicated nodes.
+We used to have a re-formulation towards those, but we now do these via
+dedicated nodes too.
+
+These new nodes, present the evaluation of the left value, checking for
+its truth value, and depending on it, to pick it, or use the right
+value.
+
+Simple Calls
+------------
+
+As seen below, even complex calls are simple calls. In simple calls of
+Python there is still some hidden semantic going on, that we expose.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   func(arg1, arg2, named1=arg3, named2=arg4)
+
+On the C-API level there is a tuple and dictionary built. This one is
+exposed:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   func(*(arg1, arg2), **{"named1": arg3, "named2": arg4})
+
+A called function will access this tuple and the dictionary to parse the
+arguments, once that is also re-formulated (argument parsing), it can
+then lead to simple in-lining. This way calls only have 2 arguments with
+constant semantics, that fits perfectly with the C-API where it is the
+same, so it is actually easier for code generation.
+
+Although the above looks like a complex call, it actually is not. No
+checks are needed for the types of the star arguments and it's directly
+translated to ``PyObject_Call``.
+
+Complex Calls
+-------------
+
+The call operator in Python allows to provide arguments in 4 forms.
+
+-  Positional (or normal) arguments
+
+-  Named (or keyword) arguments
+
+-  Star list arguments
+
+-  Star dictionary arguments
+
+The evaluation order is precisely that. An example would be:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   something(pos1, pos2, name1=named1, name2=named2, *star_list, **star_dict)
+
+The task here is that first all the arguments are evaluated, left to
+right, and then they are merged into only two, that is positional and
+named arguments only. for this, the star list argument and the star
+dictionary arguments, are merged with the positional and named
+arguments.
+
+What's peculiar, is that if both the star list and dictionary arguments
+are present, the merging is first done for star dictionary, and only
+after that for the star list argument. This makes a difference, because
+in case of an error, the star argument raises first.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   something(*1, **2)
+
+This raises "TypeError: something() argument after ** must be a mapping,
+not int" as opposed to a possibly more expected "TypeError: something()
+argument after * must be a sequence, not int."
+
+That doesn't matter much though, because the value is to be evaluated
+first anyway, and the check is only performed afterwards. If the star
+list argument calculation gives an error, this one is raised before
+checking the star dictionary argument.
+
+So, what we do, is we convert complex calls by the way of special
+functions, which handle the dirty work for us. The optimization is then
+tasked to do the difficult stuff. Our example becomes this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _complex_call(called, pos, kw, star_list_arg, star_dict_arg):
+       # Raises errors in case of duplicate arguments or tmp_star_dict not
+       # being a mapping.
+       tmp_merged_dict = merge_star_dict_arguments(
+           called, tmp_named, mapping_check(called, tmp_star_dict)
+       )
+
+       # Raises an error if tmp_star_list is not a sequence.
+       tmp_pos_merged = merge_pos_arguments(called, tmp_pos, tmp_star_list)
+
+       # On the C-API level, this is what it looks like.
+       return called(*tmp_pos_merged, **tmp_merged_dict)
+
+
+   returned = _complex_call(
+       called=something,
+       pos=(pos1, pos2),
+       named={"name1": named1, "name2": named2},
+       star_list_arg=star_list,
+       star_dict_arg=star_dict,
+   )
+
+The call to ``_complex_call`` is be a direct function call with no
+parameter parsing overhead. And the call in its end, is a special call
+operation, which relates to the ``PyObject_Call`` C-API.
+
+Assignment Expressions
+----------------------
+
+In Python 3.8 or higher, you assign inside expressions.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   if (x := cond()):
+      do_something()
+
+this is the same as:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # Doesn't exist with that name, and it is not really taking closure variables,
+   # it just shares the execution context.
+   def _outline_func():
+      nonlocal x
+      x = cond()
+
+      return x
+
+   if (_outline_func()):
+      do_something
+
+When we use this outline function, we are allowed statements, even
+assignments, in expressions. For optimization, they of course pose a
+challenge to be removed ever, only happens when it becomes only a return
+statement, but they do not cause much difficulties for code generation,
+since they are transparent.
+
+Match Statements
+----------------
+
+In Python 3.10 or higher, you can write so called ``match`` statements
+like this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   match something():
+       case [x] if x:
+           z = 2
+       case _ as y if y == x and y:
+           z = 1
+       case 0:
+           z = 0
+
+This is the same as
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   tmp_match_subject = something()
+
+   # Indicator variable, once true, all matching stops.
+   tmp_handled = False
+
+   # First branch
+   x = tmp_match_subject
+
+   if sequence_check(x)
+      if x:
+         z = 2
+         tmp_handled = True
+
+   if tmp_handled is False:
+      y = tmp_match_subject
+
+      if x == y and y:
+         z = 1
+         tmp_handled = True
+
+   if tmp_handled is False:
+      z = 0
+
+Print Statements
+----------------
+
+The ``print`` statement exists only in Python2. It implicitly converts
+its arguments to strings before printing them. In order to make this
+accessible and compile time optimized, this is made visible in the node
+tree.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   print arg1, "1", 1
+
+This is in Nuitka converted so that the code generation for ``print``
+doesn't do any conversions itself anymore and relies on the string
+nature of its input.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   print str(arg1), "1", str(1)
+
+Only string objects are spared from the ``str`` built-in wrapper,
+because that would only cause noise in optimization stage. Later
+optimization can then find it unnecessary for certain arguments.
+
+Additionally, each ``print`` may have a target, and multiple arguments,
+which we break down as well for dumber code generation. The target is
+evaluated first and should be a file, kept referenced throughout the
+whole print statement.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   print >> target_file, str(arg1), "1", str(1)
+
+This is being reformulated to:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   try:
+      tmp_target = target_file
+
+      print >>tmp_target, str(arg1), print >>tmp_target, "1", print
+      >>tmp_target, str(1), print >>tmp_target
+
+   finally:
+      del tmp_target
+
+This allows code generation to not deal with arbitrary amount of
+arguments to ``print``. It also separates the newline indicator from the
+rest of things, which makes sense too, having it as a special node, as
+it's behavior with regards to soft-space is different of course.
+
+And finally, for ``print`` without a target, we still assume that a
+target was given, which would be ``sys.stdout`` in a rather hard-coded
+way (no variable look-ups involved).
+
+Reformulations during Optimization
+==================================
+
+Builtin ``zip`` for Python2
+---------------------------
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _zip(a, b, c):  # Potentially more arguments.
+      # First assign, to preserve the order of execution, the arguments might be
+      # complex expressions with side effects.
+      tmp_arg1 = a
+      tmp_arg2 = b
+      tmp_arg3 = c
+      # could be more
+      ...
+
+      # Creation of iterators goes first.
+      try:
+         tmp_iter_1 = iter(tmp_arg1)
+      except TypeError:
+         raise TypeError("zip argument #1 must support iteration")
+      try:
+         tmp_iter_2 = iter(tmp_arg2)
+      except TypeError:
+         raise TypeError("zip argument #2 must support iteration")
+      try:
+         tmp_iter_3 = iter(tmp_arg3)
+      except TypeError:
+         raise TypeError("zip argument #3 must support iteration")
+
+      # could be more
+      ...
+
+      tmp_result = []
+      try:
+         while 1:
+            tmp_result.append(
+                  (
+                     next(tmp_iter_1),
+                     next(tmp_iter_2),
+                     next(tmp_iter_3),
+                     # more arguments here ...
+                  )
+            )
+      except StopIteration:
+         pass
+
+      return tmp_result
+
+Builtin ``zip`` for Python3
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   for x, y, z in zip(a, b, c):
+       ...
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _zip_gen_object(a, b, c, ...):
+       ...
+       # See Python2
+       ...
+
+      # could be more
+      ...
+      while 1:
+           yield (
+               next(tmp_iter_1),
+               next(tmp_iter_2),
+               next(tmp_iter_3),
+               ...
+           )
+       except StopIteration:
+           break
+
+   for x, y, z in _zip_gen_object(a, b, c):
+       ...
+
+Builtin ``map`` for Python2
+---------------------------
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def _map():
+       # TODO: Not done yet.
+       pass
+
+Builtin ``min``
+---------------
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # TODO: keyfunc (Python2/3), defaults (Python3)
+   def _min(a, b, c):  # Potentially more arguments.
+       tmp_arg1 = a
+       tmp_arg2 = b
+       tmp_arg3 = c
+       # more arguments here ...
+
+       result = tmp_arg1
+       if keyfunc is None:  # can be decided during re-formulation
+           tmp_key_result = keyfunc(result)
+           tmp_key_candidate = keyfunc(tmp_arg2)
+           if tmp_key_candidate < tmp_key_result:
+               result = tmp_arg2
+               tmp_key_result = tmp_key_candidate
+           tmp_key_candidate = keyfunc(tmp_arg3)
+           if tmp_key_candidate < tmp_key_result:
+               result = tmp_arg3
+               tmp_key_result = tmp_key_candidate
+           # more arguments here ...
+       else:
+           if tmp_arg2 < result:
+               result = tmp_arg2
+           if tmp_arg3 < result:
+               result = tmp_arg3
+           # more arguments here ...
+
+       return result
+
+Builtin ``max``
+---------------
+
+See ``min`` just with ``>`` instead of ``<``.
+
+Call to ``dir`` without arguments
+---------------------------------
+
+This expression is reformulated to ``locals().keys()`` for Python2, and
+``list(locals.keys())`` for Python3.
+
+Calls to functions with known signatures
+----------------------------------------
+
+As a necessary step for inlining function calls, we need to change calls
+to variable references to function references.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f(arg1, arg2):
+       return some_op(arg1, arg2)
+
+
+   # ... other code
+
+   x = f(a, b + c)
+
+In the optimization it is turned into
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # ... other code
+
+   x = lambda arg1, arg2: some_op(arg1, arg2)(a, b + c)
+
+.. note::
+
+   The ``lambda`` stands here for a reference to the function, rather
+   than a variable reference, this is the normal forward propagation of
+   values, and does not imply duplicating or moving any code at all.
+
+At this point, we still have not resolved the actual call arguments to
+the variable names, still a Python level function is created, and
+called, and arguments are parsed to a tuple, and from a tuple. For
+simplicity sake, we have left out keyword arguments out of the equation
+for now, but they are even more costly.
+
+So now, what we want to do, is to re-formulate the call into what we
+call an outline body, which is a inline function, and that does the
+parameter parsing already and contains the function code too. In this
+inlining, there still is a function, but it's technically not a Python
+function anymore, just something that is an expression whose value is
+determined by control flow and the function call.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # ... other code
+
+
+   def _f():
+       tmp_arg1 = arg1
+       tmp_arg2 = b + c
+       return tmp_arg1 + tmp_arg2
+
+
+   x = _f()
+
+With this, a function is considered inlined, because it becomes part of
+the abstract execution, and the actual code is duplicated.
+
+The point is, that matching the signature of the function to the actual
+arguments given, is pretty straight forward in many cases, but there are
+two forms of complications that can happen. One is default values,
+because they need to assigned or not, and the other is keyword
+arguments, because they allow to reorder arguments.
+
+Let's consider an example with default values first.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f(arg1, arg2=some_default()):
+       return some_op(arg1, arg2)
+
+
+   # ... other code
+
+   x = f(a, b + c)
+
+Since the point, at which defaults are taken, we must execute them at
+that point and make them available.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   tmp_defaults = (some_default,)  # that was f.__defaults__
+
+   # ... other code
+
+
+   def _f():
+       tmp_arg1 = arg1
+       tmp_arg2 = tmp_defaults[0]
+       return tmp_arg1 + tmp_arg2
+
+
+   x = _f()
+
+Now, one where keyword arguments are ordered the other way.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f(arg1, arg2):
+       return some_op(arg1, arg2)
+
+
+   # ... other code
+
+   x = f(arg2=b + c, arg1=a)  # "b+c" is evaluated before "a"
+
+The solution is an extra level of temporary variables. We remember the
+argument order by names and then assign parameters from it:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # ... other code
+
+
+   def _f():
+       tmp_given_value1 = b + c
+       tmp_given_value2 = a
+       tmp_arg1 = tmp_given_value2
+       tmp_arg2 = tmp_given_value1
+       return tmp_arg1 + tmp_arg2
+
+
+   x = _f()
+
+Obviously, optimization of Nuitka can decide, that e.g. should ``a`` or
+``b+c`` not have side effects, to optimize these with standard variable
+tracing away.
+
+Nodes that serve special purposes
+=================================
+
+Try statements
+--------------
+
+In Python, there is ``try``/``except`` and ``try``/``finally``. In
+Nuitka there is only a ``try``, which then has blocks to handle
+exceptions, ``continue``, or ``break``, or ``return``. There is no
+``else`` to this node type.
+
+This is more low level and universal. Code for the different handlers
+can be different. User provided ``finally`` blocks become copied into
+the different handlers.
+
+Releases
+--------
+
+When a function exits, the local variables are to be released. The same
+applies to temporary variables used in re-formulations. These releases
+cause a reference to the object to the released, but no value change.
+They are typically the last use of the object in the function.
+
+The are similar to ``del``, but make no value change. For shared
+variables this effect is most visible.
+
+Side Effects
+------------
+
+When an exception is bound to occur, and this can be determined at
+compile time, Nuitka will not generate the code the leads to the
+exception, but directly just raise it. But not in all cases, this is the
+full thing.
+
+Consider this code:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   f(a(), 1 / 0)
+
+The second argument will create a ``ZeroDivisionError`` exception, but
+before that ``a()`` must be executed, but the call to ``f`` will never
+happen and no code is needed for that, but the name look-up must still
+succeed. This then leads to code that is internally like this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   f(a(), raise_ZeroDivisionError())
+
+which is then modeled as:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   side_effect(a(), f, raise_ZeroDivisionError())
+
+where we can consider ``side_effect`` to be a function that returns the
+last expression. Of course, if this is not part of another expression,
+but close to statement level, side effects, can be converted to multiple
+statements simply.
+
+Another use case, is that the value of an expression can be predicted,
+but that the language still requires things to happen, consider this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = len((f(), g()))
+
+We can tell that ``a`` will be 2, but the call to ``f`` and ``g`` must
+still be performed, so it becomes:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = side_effects(f(), g(), 2)
+
+Modelling side effects explicitly has the advantage of recognizing them
+easily and allowing to drop the call to the tuple building and checking
+its length, only to release it.
+
+Caught Exception Type/Value References
+--------------------------------------
+
+When catching an exception, these are not directly put to
+``sys.exc_info()``, but remain as mere C variables. From there, they can
+be accessed with these nodes, or if published then from the thread
+state.
+
+Hard Module Imports
+-------------------
+
+These are module look-ups that don't depend on any local variable for
+the module to be looked up, but with hard-coded names. These may be the
+result of optimization gaining such level of certainty.
+
+Currently they are used to represent ``sys.stdout`` usage for ``print``
+statements, but other usages will follow.
+
+Locals Dict Update Statement
+----------------------------
+
+For the ``exec`` re-formulation, we apply an explicit sync back to
+locals as an explicit node. It helps us to tell the affected local
+variable traces that they might be affected. It represents the bit of
+``exec`` in Python2, that treats ``None`` as the locals argument as an
+indication to copy back.
+
+Optimizing Attribute Lookups into Method Calls for Built-ins types
+==================================================================
+
+The attribute lookup node ``ExpressionAttributeLookup`` represents
+looking up an attribute name, that is known to be a string. That's
+already a bit more special, than say what ``ExpressionBuiltinGetattr``
+does for ``getattr``, where it could be any object being looked up. From
+the Python syntax however, these are what gets created, as it's not
+allowed in any other way. So, this is where this starts.
+
+Then, when we are creating an attribute node with a *fixed* name, we
+dispatch it to generated node classes, e.g.
+``ExpressionAttributeLookupFixedAppend``. This will be the same, except
+that the attribute name is hardcoded.
+
+There are generated, such that they can have code that is special for
+``.append`` lookups. In their case, it makes sense to ask the source, if
+they are a ``list`` object exactly. It doesn't make sense to do this
+check for names that the ``list`` does not contain. So at that stage, we
+are saving both a bit of memory and time.
+
+Should this question succeed, i.e. the expression the attribute values
+is looked up upon, is known to be a ``list`` exactly, we persist this
+knowledge in the also generated nodes that represent ``list.append`` and
+just that. It is called ``ExpressionAttributeLookupListAppend`` and only
+represents the knowledge gained so far.
+
+We do not consider if ``ExpressionAttributeLookupFixedAppend`` is
+called, or not, passed as an argument, assigned somewhere, it doesn't
+matter yet, but for ``ExpressionAttributeLookupListAppend`` we know a
+hell of a lot more. We know its type, we know attributes for it, say
+``__name__``, as it is a compile time constant, therefore much
+optimization can follow for them, and code generation can specialize
+them too (not yet done).
+
+Should these nodes then, and say this happens later after some inlining
+happens be seen as called, we can then turn them into method call nodes,
+checking the arguments and such, this is then
+``ExpressionListOperationAppend`` and at this point, will raising errors
+with wrong argument counts.
+
+And then we have this ``ExpressionListOperationAppend`` which will
+influence the tracing of ``list`` contents, i.e. it will be able to tell
+the ``list`` in question is no more empty after this ``append``, and it
+will be able to at least predict the last element value, truth value of
+the list, etc.
+
+******************************
+ Plan to add "ctypes" support
+******************************
+
+Add interfacing to C code, so Nuitka can turn a ``ctypes`` binding into
+an efficient binding as if it were written manually with Python C-API or
+better.
+
+Goals/Allowances to the task
+============================
+
+#. Goal: Must not directly use any pre-existing C/C++ language file
+   headers, only generate declarations in generated C code ourselves. We
+   would rather write or use tools that turn an existing a C header to
+   some ``ctypes`` declarations if it needs to be, but not mix and use
+   declarations from existing header code.
+
+   .. note::
+
+      The "cffi" interface maybe won't have the issue, but it's not
+      something we need to write or test the code for.
+
+#. Allowance: May use ``ctypes`` module at compile time to ask things
+   about ``ctypes`` and its types.
+
+#. Goal: Should make use of ``ctypes``, to e.g. not hard code in Nuitka
+   what ``ctypes.c_int()`` gives on the current platform, unless there
+   is a specific benefit.
+
+#. Allowance: Not all ``ctypes`` usages must be supported immediately.
+
+#. Goal: Try and be as general as possible.
+
+   For the compiler, ``ctypes`` support should be hidden behind a
+   generic interface of some sort. Supporting ``math`` module should be
+   the same thing.
+
+Type Inference - The Discussion
+===============================
+
+Main initial goal is to forward value knowledge. When you have ``a =
+b``, that means that a and b now "alias". And if you know the value of
+``b`` you can assume to know the value of ``a``. This is called
+"aliasing".
+
+When assigning ``a`` to something new, that won't change ``b`` at all.
+But when an attribute is set, a method called of it, that might impact
+the actual value, referenced by both. We need to understand mutable vs.
+immutable though, as some things are not affected by aliasing in any
+way.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = 3
+   b = a
+
+   b += 4  # a is not changed
+
+   a = [3]
+   b = a
+
+   b += [4]  # a is changed indeed
+
+If we cannot tell, we must assume that ``a`` might be changed. It's
+either ``b`` or what ``a`` was before. If the type is not mutable, we
+can assume the aliasing to be broken up, and if it is, we can assume
+both to be the same value still.
+
+When that value is a compile time constant, we will want to push it
+forward, and we do that with "(Constant) Value Propagation", which is
+implemented already. We avoid too large constants, and we properly trace
+value assignments, but not yet aliases.
+
+In order to fully benefit from type knowledge, the new type system must
+be able to be fully friends with existing built-in types, but for
+classes to also work with it, it should not be tied to them. The
+behavior of a type ``long``, ``str``, etc. ought to be implemented as
+far as possible with the built-in ``long``, ``str`` at compiled time as
+well.
+
+.. note::
+
+   This "use the real thing" concept extends beyond builtin types, e.g.
+   ``ctypes.c_int()`` should also be used, but we must be aware of
+   platform dependencies. The maximum size of ``ctypes.c_int`` values
+   would be an example of that. Of course that may not be possible for
+   everything.
+
+   This approach has well proven itself with built-in functions already,
+   where we use real built-ins where possible to make computations. We
+   have the problem though that built-ins may have problems to execute
+   everything with reasonable compile time cost.
+
+Another example, consider the following code:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   len("a" * 1000000000000)
+
+To predict this code, calculating it at compile time using constant
+operations, while feasible, puts an unacceptable burden on the
+compilation.
+
+Esp. we wouldn't want to produce such a huge constant and stream it, the
+C++ code would become too huge. So, we need to stop the ``*`` operator
+from being used at compile time and cope with reduced knowledge, already
+here:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   "a" * 10000000000000
+
+Instead, we would probably say that for this expression:
+
+-  The result is a ``str`` or a C level ``PyStringObject *``.
+
+-  We know its length exactly, it's ``10000000000000``.
+
+-  Can predict every of its elements when sub-scripted, sliced, etc., if
+   need be, with a function we may create.
+
+Similar is true for this horrible (in Python2) thing:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   range(10000000000000)
+
+So it's a rather general problem, this time we know:
+
+-  The result is a ``list`` or C level ``PyListObject *``.
+
+-  We know its length exactly, ``10000000000000``.
+
+-  Can predict every of its elements when index, sliced, etc., if need
+   be, with a function.
+
+Again, we wouldn't want to create the list. Therefore Nuitka avoids
+executing these calculation, when they result in constants larger than a
+threshold of e.g. 256 elements. This concept has to be also applied to
+large integers and more CPU and memory traps.
+
+Now lets look at a more complete use case:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   for x in range(10000000000000):
+       doSomething()
+
+Looking at this example, one traditional way to look at it, would be to
+turn ``range`` into ``xrange``, and to note that ``x`` is unused. That
+would already perform better. But really better is to notice that
+``range()`` generated values are not used at all, but only the length of
+the expression matters.
+
+And even if ``x`` were used, only the ability to predict the value from
+a function would be interesting, so we would use that computation
+function instead of having an iteration source. Being able to predict
+from a function could mean to have Python code to do it, as well as C
+code to do it. Then code for the loop can be generated without any
+CPython library usage at all.
+
+.. note::
+
+   Of course, it would only make sense where such calculations are
+   "O(1)" complexity, i.e. do not require recursion like "n!" does.
+
+The other thing is that CPython appears to at - run time - take length
+hints from objects for some operations, and there it would help too, to
+track length of objects, and provide it, to outside code.
+
+Back to the original example:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   len("a" * 1000000000000)
+
+The theme here, is that when we can't compute all intermediate
+expressions, and we sure can't do it in the general case. But we can
+still, predict some of properties of an expression result, more or less.
+
+Here we have ``len`` to look at an argument that we know the size of.
+Great. We need to ask if there are any side effects, and if there are,
+we need to maintain them of course. This is already done by existing
+optimization if an operation generates an exception.
+
+.. note::
+
+   The optimization of ``len`` has been implemented and works for all
+   kinds of container creation and ranges.
+
+Applying this to "ctypes"
+=========================
+
+The *not so specific* problem to be solved to understand ``ctypes``
+declarations is maybe as follows:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   import ctypes
+
+This leads to Nuitka in its tree to have an assignment from a
+``__import__`` expression to the variable ``ctypes``. It can be
+predicted by default to be a module object, and even better, it can be
+known as ``ctypes`` from standard library with more or less certainty.
+See the section about "Importing".
+
+So that part is "easy", and it's what will happen. During optimization,
+when the module ``__import__`` expression is examined, it should say:
+
+-  ``ctypes`` is a module
+
+-  ``ctypes`` is from standard library (if it is, might not be true)
+
+-  ``ctypes`` then has code behind it, called ``ModuleFriend`` that
+   knows things about it attributes, that should be asked.
+
+The later is the generic interface, and the optimization should connect
+the two, of course via package and module full names. It will need a
+``ModuleFriendRegistry``, from which it can be pulled. It would be nice
+if we can avoid ``ctypes`` to be loaded into Nuitka unless necessary, so
+these need to be more like a plug-in, loaded only if necessary, i.e. the
+user code actually uses ``ctypes``.
+
+Coming back to the original expression, it also contains an assignment
+expression, because it re-formulated to be more like this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   ctypes = __import__("ctypes")
+
+The assigned to object, simply gets the type inferred propagated as part
+of an SSA form. Ideally, we could be sure that nothing in the program
+changes the variable, and therefore have only one version of that
+variable.
+
+For module variables, when the execution leaves the module to unknown
+code, or unclear code, it might change the variable. Therefore, likely
+we will often only assume that it could still be ``ctypes``, but also
+something else.
+
+Depending on how well we control module variable assignment, we can
+decide this more of less quickly. With "compiled modules" types, the
+expectation is that it's merely a quick C ``==`` comparison check. The
+module friend should offer code to allow a check if it applies, for
+uncertain cases.
+
+Then when we come to uses of it:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   ctypes.c_int()
+
+At this point, using SSA, we are more of less sure, that ``ctypes`` is
+at that point the module, and that we know what it's ``c_int`` attribute
+is, at compile time, and what it's call result is. We will use the
+module friend to help with that. It will attach knowledge about the
+result of that expression during the SSA collection process.
+
+This is more like a value forward propagation than anything else. In
+fact, constant propagation should only be the special case of it, and
+one design goal of Nuitka was always to cover these two cases with the
+same code.
+
+Excursion to Functions
+======================
+
+In order to decide what this means to functions and their call
+boundaries, if we propagate forward, how to handle this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def my_append(a, b):
+       a.append(b)
+
+       return a
+
+We annotate that ``a`` is first a "unknown but defined parameter
+object", then later on something that definitely has an ``append``
+attribute, when returned, as otherwise an exception occurs.
+
+The type of ``a`` changes to that after ``a.append`` look-up succeeds.
+It might be many kinds of an object, but e.g. it could have a higher
+probability of being a ``PyListObject``. And we would know it cannot be
+a ``PyStringObject``, as that one has no ``append`` method, and would
+have raised an exception therefore.
+
+.. note::
+
+   If classes, i.e. other types in the program, have an ``append``
+   attribute, it should play a role too, there needs to be a way to
+   plug-in to this decisions.
+
+.. note::
+
+   On the other hand, types without ``append`` attribute can be
+   eliminated.
+
+Therefore, functions through SSA provide an automatic analysis on their
+return state, or return value types, or a quick way to predict return
+value properties, based on input value knowledge.
+
+So this could work:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   b = my_append([], 3)
+
+   assert b == [3]  # Could be decided now
+
+Goal: The structure we use makes it easy to tell what ``my_append`` may
+be. So, there should be a means to ask it about call results with given
+type/value information. We need to be able to tell, if evaluating
+``my_append`` makes sense with given parameters or not, if it does
+impact the return value.
+
+We should e.g. be able to make ``my_append`` tell, one or more of these:
+
+-  Returns the first parameter value as return value (unless it raises
+   an exception).
+
+-  The return value has the same type as ``a`` (unless it raises an
+   exception).
+
+-  The return value has an ``append`` attribute.
+
+-  The return value might be a ``list`` object.
+
+-  The return value may not be a ``str`` object.
+
+-  The function will raise if first argument has no ``append``
+   attribute.
+
+The exactness of statements may vary. But some things may be more
+interesting. If e.g. the aliasing of a parameter value to the return
+value is known exactly, then information about it need to all be given
+up, but some can survive.
+
+It would be nice, if ``my_append`` had sufficient information, so we
+could specialize with ``list`` and ``int`` from the parameters, and then
+e.g. know at least some things that it does in that case. Such
+specialization would have to be decided if it makes sense. In the
+alternative, it could be done for each variant anyway, as there won't be
+that many of them.
+
+Doing this "forward" analysis appears to be best suited for functions
+and therefore long term. We will try it that way.
+
+Excursion to Loops
+==================
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = 1
+
+   while 1:  # think loop: here
+       b = a + 1
+       a = b
+
+       if cond():
+           break
+
+   print(a)
+
+The handling of loops (both ``for`` and ``while`` are re-formulated to
+this kind of loops with ``break`` statements) has its own problem. The
+loop start and may have an assumption from before it started, that ``a``
+is constant, but that is only true for the first iteration. So, we can't
+pass knowledge from outside loop forward directly into the for loop
+body.
+
+So the collection for loops needs to be two pass for loops. First, to
+collect assignments, and merge these into the start state, before
+entering the loop body. The need to make two passes is special to loops.
+
+For a start, it is done like this. At loop entry, all pre-existing, but
+written traces, are turned into loop merges. Knowledge is not completely
+removed about everything assigned or changed in the loop, but then it's
+not trusted anymore.
+
+From that basis, the ``break`` exits are analysed, and merged, building
+up the post loop state, and ``continue`` exits of the loop replacing the
+unknown part of the loop entry state. The loop end is considered a
+``continue`` for this purpose.
+
+Excursion to Conditions
+=======================
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   if cond:
+       x = 1
+   else:
+       x = 2
+
+   b = x < 3
+
+The above code contains a condition, and these have the problem, that
+when exiting the conditional block, a merge must be done, of the ``x``
+versions. It could be either one. The merge may trace the condition
+under which a choice is taken. That way, we could decide pairs of traces
+under the same condition.
+
+These merges of SSA variable "versions", represent alternative values.
+They pose difficulties, and might have to be reduced to commonality. In
+the above example, the ``<`` operator will have to check for each
+version, and then to decide that both indeed give the same result.
+
+The trace collection tracks variable changes in conditional branches,
+and then merges the existing state at conditional statement exits.
+
+.. note::
+
+   A branch is considered "exiting" if it is not abortive. Should it end
+   in a ``raise``, ``break``, ``continue``, or ``return``, there is no
+   need to merge that branch, as execution of that branch is terminated.
+
+   Should both branches be abortive, that makes things really simple, as
+   there is no need to even continue.
+
+   Should only one branch exist, but be abortive, then no merge is
+   needed, and the collection can assume after the conditional
+   statement, that the branch was not taken, and continue.
+
+When exiting both the branches, these branches must both be merged, with
+their new information.
+
+In the above case:
+
+-  The "yes" branch knows variable ``x`` is an ``int`` of constant value
+   ``1``
+
+-  The "no" branch knows variable ``x`` is an ``int`` of constant value
+   ``2``
+
+That might be collapsed to:
+
+-  The variable ``x`` is an integer of value in ``(1,2)``
+
+Given this, we then should be able to pre-compute the value of this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   b = x < 3
+
+The comparison operator can therefore decide and tell:
+
+-  The variable ``b`` is a boolean of constant value ``True``.
+
+Were it unable to decide, it would still be able to say:
+
+-  The variable ``b`` is a boolean.
+
+For conditional statements optimization, it's also noteworthy, that the
+condition is known to pass or not pass the truth check, inside branches,
+and in the case of non-exiting single branches, after the statement it's
+not true.
+
+We may want to take advantage of it. Consider e.g.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   if type(a) is list:
+       a.append(x)
+   else:
+       a += (x,)
+
+In this case, the knowledge that ``a`` is a list, could be used to
+generate better code and with the definite knowledge that ``a`` is of
+type list. With that knowledge the ``append`` attribute call will become
+the ``list`` built-in type operation.
+
+Excursion to ``return`` statements
+==================================
+
+The ``return`` statement (like ``break``, ``continue``, ``raise``) is
+"aborting" to control flow. It is always the last statement of inspected
+block. When there statements to follow it, optimization will remove it
+as "dead code".
+
+If all branches of a conditional statement are "aborting", the statement
+is decided "aborting" too. If a loop doesn't abort with a break, it
+should be considered "aborting" too.
+
+Excursion to ``yield`` expressions
+==================================
+
+The ``yield`` expression can be treated like a normal function call, and
+as such invalidates some known constraints just as much as they do. It
+executes outside code for an unknown amount of time, and then returns,
+with little about the outside world known anymore, if it's accessible
+from there.
+
+Mixed Types
+===========
+
+Consider the following inside a function or module:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   if cond is not None:
+       a = [x for x in something() if cond(x)]
+   else:
+       a = ()
+
+A programmer will often not make a difference between ``list`` and
+``tuple``. In fact, using a ``tuple`` is a good way to express that
+something won't be changed later, as these are mutable.
+
+.. note::
+
+   Better programming style, would be to use this:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      if cond is not None:
+          a = tuple(x for x in something() if cond(x))
+      else:
+          a = ()
+
+   People don't do it, because they dislike the performance hit
+   encountered by the generator expression being used to initialize the
+   tuple. But it would be more consistent, and so Nuitka is using it,
+   and of course one day Nuitka ought to be able to make no difference
+   in performance for it.
+
+To Nuitka though this means, that if ``cond`` is not predictable, after
+the conditional statement we may either have a ``tuple`` or a ``list``
+type object in ``a``. In order to represent that without resorting to "I
+know nothing about it", we need a kind of ``min``/``max`` operating
+mechanism that is capable of say what is common with multiple
+alternative values.
+
+.. note::
+
+   At this time, we don't really have that mechanism to find the
+   commonality between values.
+
+Back to "ctypes"
+================
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   v = ctypes.c_int()
+
+Coming back to this example, we needed to propagate ``ctypes``, then we
+can propagate "something" from ``ctypes.int`` and then known what this
+gives with a call and no arguments, so the walk of the nodes, and
+diverse operations should be addressed by a module friend.
+
+In case a module friend doesn't know what to do, it needs to say so by
+default. This should be enforced by a base class and give a warning or
+note.
+
+Now to the interface
+====================
+
+The following is the intended interface:
+
+-  Iteration with node methods ``computeStatement`` and
+   ``computeExpression``.
+
+   These traverse modules and functions (i.e. scopes) and visit
+   everything in the order that Python executes it. The visiting object
+   is ``TraceCollection`` and pass forward. Some node types, e.g.
+   ``StatementConditional`` new create branch trace collections and
+   handle the SSA merging at exit.
+
+-  Replacing nodes during the visit.
+
+   Both ``computeStatement`` and ``computeExpression`` are tasked to
+   return potential replacements of themselves, together with "tags"
+   (meaningless now), and a "message", used for verbose tracing.
+
+   The replacement node of ``+`` operator, may e.g. be the pre-computed
+   constant result, wrapped in side effects of the node, or the
+   expression raised, again wrapped in side effects.
+
+-  Assignments and references affect SSA.
+
+   The SSA tree is initialized every time a scope is visited. Then
+   during traversal, traces are built up. Every assignment and merge
+   starts a new trace for that matter. References to a given variable
+   version are traced that way.
+
+-  Value escapes are traced too.
+
+   When an operation hands over a value to outside code, it indicates so
+   to the trace collection. This is for it to know, when e.g. a constant
+   value, might be mutated meanwhile.
+
+-  Nodes can be queried about their properties.
+
+   There is a type shape and a value shape that each node can be asked
+   about. The type shape offers methods that allow to check if certain
+   operations are at all supported or not. These can always return
+   ``True`` (yes), ``False`` (no), and ``None`` (cannot decide). In the
+   case of the later, optimizations may not be able do much about it.
+   Lets call these values "tri-state".
+
+   There is also the value shape of a node. This can go deeper, and be
+   more specific to a given node.
+
+   The default implementation will be very pessimistic. Specific node
+   types and shapes may then declare, that they e.g. have no side
+   effects, will not raise for certain operations, have a known truth
+   value, have a known iteration length, can predict their iteration
+   values, etc.
+
+-  Nodes are linked to certain states.
+
+   During the collect, a variable reference, is linked to a certain
+   trace state, and that can be used by parent operations.
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = 1
+      b = a + a
+
+   In this example, the references to ``a``, can look-up the ``1`` in
+   the trace, and base value shape response to ``+`` on it. For compile
+   time evaluation, it may also ask ``isCompileTimeConstant()`` and if
+   both nodes will respond ``True``, then "getCompileTimeConstant()"
+   will return ``1``, which will be be used in computation.
+
+   Then ``extractSideEffects()`` for the ``a`` reference will return
+   ``()`` and therefore, the result ``2`` will not be wrapped.
+
+   An alternative approach would be ``hasTypeSlotAdd()`` on the both
+   nodes, and they both do, to see if the selection mechanism used by
+   CPython can be used to find which types ``+`` should be used.
+
+-  Class for module import expression ``ExpressionImportModule``.
+
+   This one just knows that something is imported, but not how or what
+   it is assigned to. It will be able in a recursive compile, to provide
+   the module as an assignment source, or the module variables or
+   submodules as an attribute source when referenced from a variable
+   trace or in an expression.
+
+-  Base class for module friend ``ModuleFriendBase``.
+
+   This is intended to provide something to overload, which e.g. can
+   handle ``math`` in a better way.
+
+-  Module ``ModuleFriendRegistry``
+
+   Provides a register function with ``name`` and instances of
+   ``ValueFriendModuleBase`` to be registered. Recursed to modules
+   should integrate with that too. The registry could well be done with
+   a metaclass approach.
+
+-  The module friends should each live in a module of their own.
+
+   With a naming policy to be determined. These modules should add
+   themselves via above mechanism to ``ModuleFriendRegistry`` and all
+   shall be imported and register. Importing of e.g. ``ctypes`` should
+   be delayed to when the friend is actually used. A meta class should
+   aid this task.
+
+   The delay will avoid unnecessary blot of the compiler at run time, if
+   no such module is used. For "qt" and other complex stuff, this will
+   be a must.
+
+-  The walk should initially be single pass, and not maintain history.
+
+   Instead optimization that needs to look at multiple things, e.g.
+   "unused assignment", will look at the whole SSA collection
+   afterwards.
+
+Discussing with examples
+========================
+
+The following examples:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # Assignment, the source decides the type of the assigned expression
+   a = b
+
+   # Operator "attribute look-up", the looked up expression "ctypes" decides
+   # via its trace.
+   ctypes.c_int
+
+   # Call operator, the called expressions decides with help of arguments,
+   # which have been walked, before the call itself.
+   called_expression_of_any_complexity()
+
+   # import gives a module any case, and the "ModuleRegistry" may say more.
+   import ctypes
+
+   # From import need not give module, "x" decides what it is.
+   from x import y
+
+   # Operations are decided by arguments, and CPython operator rules between
+   # argument states.
+   a + b
+
+The optimization is mostly performed by walking of the tree and
+performing trace collection. When it encounters assignments and
+references to them, it considers current state of traces and uses it for
+``computeExpression``.
+
+.. note::
+
+   Assignments to attributes, indexes, slices, etc. will also need to
+   follow the flow of ``append``, so it cannot escape attention that a
+   list may be modified. Usages of ``append`` that we cannot be sure
+   about, must be traced to exist, and disallow the list to be
+   considered known value again.
+
+Code Generation Impact
+======================
+
+Right now, code generation assumes that everything is a ``PyObject *``,
+i.e. a Python object, and does not take knowledge of ``int`` or other
+types into consideration at all, and it should remain like that for some
+time to come.
+
+Instead, ``ctypes`` value friend will be asked give ``Identifiers``,
+like other codes do too. And these need to be able to convert themselves
+to objects to work with the other things.
+
+But Code Generation should no longer require that operations must be
+performed on that level. Imagine e.g. the following calls:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   c_call(other_c_call())
+
+Value returned by "other_c_call()" of say ``c_int`` type, should be
+possible to be fed directly into another call. That should be easy by
+having a ``asIntC()`` in the identifier classes, which the ``ctypes``
+Identifiers handle without conversions.
+
+Code Generation should one day also become able to tell that all uses of
+a variable have only ``c_int`` value, and use ``int`` instead of
+``PyObjectLocalVariable`` more or less directly. We could consider
+``PyIntLocalVariable`` of similar complexity as ``int`` after the C++
+compiler performed its in-lining.
+
+Such decisions would be prepared by finalization, which then would track
+the history of values throughout a function or part of it.
+
+Initial Implementation
+======================
+
+The basic interface will be added to *all* expressions and a node may
+override it, potentially using trace collection state, as attached
+during ``computeExpression``.
+
+Goal 1 (Reached)
+----------------
+
+Initially most things will only be able to give up on about anything.
+And it will be little more than a tool to do simple look-ups in a
+general form. It will then be the first goal to turn the following code
+into better performing one:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = 3
+   b = 7
+   c = a / b
+   print(c)
+
+to:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = 3
+   b = 7
+   c = 3 / 7
+   print(c)
+
+and then:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = 3
+   b = 7
+   c = 0
+   print(c)
+
+and then:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = 3
+   b = 7
+   c = 0
+   print(0)
+
+This depends on SSA form to be able to tell us the values of ``a``,
+``b``, and ``c`` to be written to by constants, which can be forward
+propagated at no cost.
+
+Goal 2 (Reached)
+----------------
+
+The assignments to ``a``, ``b``, and ``c`` shall all become prey to
+"unused" assignment analysis in the next step. They are all only
+assigned to, and the assignment source has no effect, so they can be
+simply dropped.
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   print(0)
+
+In the SSA form, these are then assignments without references. These
+assignments, can be removed if the assignment source has no side effect.
+Or at least they could be made "anonymous", i.e. use a temporary
+variable instead of the named one. That would have to take into account
+though, that the old version still needs a release.
+
+The most general form would first merely remove assignments that have no
+impact, and leave the value as a side effect, so we arrive at this
+first:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   3
+   7
+   0
+   print(0)
+
+When applying the removal of expression only statements without effect,
+this gives us:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   print(0)
+
+which is the perfect result. Doing it in one step would only be an
+optimization at the cost of generalization.
+
+In order to be able to manipulate nodes related to a variable trace, we
+need to attach the nodes that did it. Consider this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   if cond():
+       x = 1
+   elif other():
+       x = 3
+
+   # Not using "x".
+   print(0)
+
+In the above case, the merge of the value traces, should say that ``x``
+may be undefined, or one of ``1`` or ``3``, but since ``x`` is not used,
+apply the "dead value" trick to each branch.
+
+The removal of the "merge" of the 3 ``x`` versions, should exhibit that
+the other versions are also only assigned to, and can be removed. These
+merges of course appear as usages of the ``x`` versions.
+
+Goal 3
+------
+
+Then third goal is to understand all of this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f():
+       a = []
+
+       print(a)
+
+       for i in range(1000):
+           print(a)
+
+           a.append(i)
+
+       return len(a)
+
+.. note::
+
+   There are many operations in this, and all of them should be properly
+   handled, or at least ignored in safe way.
+
+The first goal code gave us that the ``list`` has an annotation from the
+assignment of ``[]`` and that it will be copied to ``a`` until the for
+loop in encountered. Then it must be removed, because the ``for`` loop
+somehow says so.
+
+The ``a`` may change its value, due to the unknown attribute look-up of
+it already, not even the call. The for loop must be able to say "may
+change value" due to that, of course also due to the call of that
+attribute too.
+
+The code should therefore become equivalent to:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f():
+       a = []
+
+       print([])
+
+       for i in range(1000):
+           print(a)
+
+           a.append(i)
+
+       return len(a)
+
+But no other changes must occur, especially not to the ``return``
+statement, it must not assume ``a`` to be constant "[]" but an unknown
+``a`` instead.
+
+With that, we would handle this code correctly and have some form
+constant value propagation in place, handle loops at least correctly,
+and while it is not much, it is important demonstration of the concept.
+
+Goal 4
+------
+
+The fourth goal is to understand the following:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   def f(cond):
+       y = 3
+
+       if cond:
+           x = 1
+       else:
+           x = 2
+
+       return x < y
+
+In this we have a branch, and we will be required to keep track of both
+the branches separately, and then to merge with the original knowledge.
+After the conditional statement we will know that "x" is an "int" with
+possible values in ``(1,2)``, which can be used to predict that the
+return value is always ``True``.
+
+The fourth goal will therefore be that the "ValueFriendConstantList"
+knows that append changes ``a`` value, but it remains a list, and that
+the size increases by one. It should provide an other value friend
+"ValueFriendList" for "a" due to that.
+
+In order to do that, such code must be considered:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   a = []
+
+   a.append(1)
+   a.append(2)
+
+   print(len(a))
+
+It will be good, if ``len`` still knows that ``a`` is a list object, but
+not the constant list anymore.
+
+From here, work should be done to demonstrate the correctness of it with
+the basic tests applied to discover undetected issues.
+
+Fifth and optional goal: Extra bonus points for being able to track and
+predict ``append`` to update the constant list in a known way. Using
+``list.append`` that should be done and lead to a constant result of
+``len`` being used.
+
+The sixth and challenging goal will be to make the code generation be
+impacted by the value friends types. It should have a knowledge that
+``PyList_Append`` does the job of append and use ``PyList_Size`` for
+``len``. The "ValueFriends" should aid the code generation too.
+
+Last and right now optional goal will be to make ``range`` have a value
+friend, that can interact with iteration of the for loop, and ``append``
+of the ``list`` value friend, so it knows it's possible to iterate 5000
+times, and that "a" has then after the "loop" this size, so ``len(a)``
+could be predicted. For during the loop, about a the range of its length
+should be known to be less than 5000. That would make the code of goal 2
+completely analyzed at compile time.
+
+Limitations for now
+===================
+
+-  Aim only for limited examples. For ``ctypes`` that means to compile
+   time evaluate:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      print(ctypes.c_int(17) + ctypes.c_long(19))
+
+   Later then call to "libc" or something else universally available,
+   e.g. "strlen()" or "strcmp()" from full blown declarations of the
+   callable.
+
+-  We won't have the ability to test that optimization are actually
+   performed, we will check the generated code by hand.
+
+   With time, we will add XML based checks with "xpath" queries,
+   expressed as hints, but that is some work that will be based on this
+   work here. The "hints" fits into the "ValueFriends" concept nicely or
+   so the hope is.
+
+-  No inter-function optimization functions yet
+
+   Of course, once in place, it will make the ``ctypes`` annotation even
+   more usable. Using ``ctypes`` objects inside functions, while
+   creating them on the module level, is therefore not immediately going
+   to work.
+
+-  No loops yet
+
+   Loops break value propagation. For the ``ctypes`` use case, this
+   won't be much of a difficulty. Due to the strangeness of the task, it
+   should be tackled later on at a higher priority.
+
+-  Not too much.
+
+   Try and get simple things to work now. We shall see, what kinds of
+   constraints really make the most sense. Understanding ``list``
+   subscript/slice values e.g. is not strictly useful for much code and
+   should not block us.
+
+.. note::
+
+   This design is not likely to be the final one.
+
+***********************************
+ How to make Features Experimental
+***********************************
+
+Every experimental feature needs a name. We have a rule to pick a name
+with lower case and ``_`` as separators. An example of with would be the
+name ``jinja_generated_add`` that has been used in the past.
+
+Command Line
+============
+
+Experimental features are enabled with the command line argument
+
+.. code:: bash
+
+   nuitka --experimental=jinja_generated_add ...
+
+In C code
+=========
+
+In Scons, all experimental features automatically are converted into C
+defines, and can be used like this:
+
+.. code:: C
+
+   #ifdef _NUITKA_EXPERIMENTAL_JINJA_GENERATED_ADD
+   #include "HelpersOperationGeneratedBinaryAdd.c"
+   #else
+   #include "HelpersOperationBinaryAdd.c"
+   #endif
+
+The C pre-processor is the only thing that makes an experimental feature
+usable.
+
+In Python
+=========
+
+You can query experimental features using ``Options.isExperimental()``
+with e.g. code like this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   if Options.isExperimental("use_feature"):
+       experimental_code()
+   else:
+       standard_code()
+
+When to use it
+==============
+
+Often we need to keep feature in parallel because they are not finished,
+or need to be tested after merge and should not break. Then we can do
+code changes that will not make a difference except when the
+experimental flag is given on the command line to Nuitka.
+
+The testing of Nuitka is very heavy weight when e.g. all Python code is
+compiled, and very often, it is interesting to compare behavior with and
+without a change.
+
+When to remove it
+=================
+
+When a feature becomes default, we might choose to keep the old variant
+around, but normally we do not. Then we remove the ``if`` and ``#if``
+checks and drop the old code.
+
+At this time, large scale testing will have demonstrated the viability
+of the code.
+
+*******************************
+ Adding dependencies to Nuitka
+*******************************
+
+First of all, there is an important distinction to make, run time or
+development time. The first kind of dependency is used when Nuitka is
+executing.
+
+Adding a Run Time Dependency
+============================
+
+This is the kind of dependency that is the most scrutinized. As we want
+Nuitka to run on latest greatest Python as well as relatively old ones,
+we have to be very careful with these ones.
+
+There is also a distinction of optional dependencies. Right now e.g. the
+``lxml`` package is relatively optional, and Nuitka can work without it
+being installed, because e.g. on some platforms it will not be easy to
+do so. That bar has lifted somewhat, but it means e.g. that XML based
+optimization tests are not run with all Python versions.
+
+The list of run time dependencies is in ``requirements.txt`` and it is
+for those the case, that they are not really required to be installed by
+the user, consider this snippet:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # Folders to use for cache files.
+   appdirs
+
+   # Scons is the backend building tool to turn C files to binaries.
+   scons
+
+For both these dependencies, there is either an inline copy (Scons) that
+we handle to use in case, if Scons is not available (in fact we have a
+version that works with Python 2.6 and 2.7 still), and also the same for
+appdirs and every dependency.
+
+But since inline copies are against the rules on some platforms that
+still do not contain the package, we often even have our own wrapper
+which provides a minimal fallback or exposes a sane interface for the
+subset of functionality that we use.
+
+.. note::
+
+   Therefore, please if you consider adding one of these, get in touch
+   with ``@Nuitka-pushers`` first and get a green light.
+
+Adding a Development Dependency
+===============================
+
+A typical example of a development dependency is ``black`` which is used
+by our autoformat tool, and then in turn by the git pre-commit hook. It
+is used to format source code, and doesn't have a role at run time of
+the actual compiler code of Nuitka.
+
+Much less strict rules apply to these in comparison to runtime
+dependencies. Generally please take care that the tool must be well
+maintained an available on newer Pythons. Then we can use it, no problem
+normally. But if it's really big, say all of SciPy, we might want to
+justify it a bit better.
+
+The list of development dependencies is in ``requirements-devel.txt``
+and it is for example like this:
+
+.. code:: python
+
+   # Autoformat needs this
+   rstfmt == 0.0.10 ; python_version >= '3.7'
+
+We always add the version, so that when tests run on as old versions as
+Python 2.6, the installation would fail with that version, so we need to
+make a version requirement. Sometimes we use older versions for Python2
+than for Python3, ``Jinaj2`` being a notable candidate, but generally we
+ought to avoid that. For many tools only being available for currently
+3.7 or higher is good enough, esp. if they are run as development tools,
+like ``autoformat-nuitka-source`` is.
+
+**********
+ Idea Bin
+**********
+
+This an area where to drop random ideas on our minds, to later sort it
+out, and out it into action, which could be code changes, plan changes,
+issues created, etc.
+
+-  Debugging memory leak template, to be added to develop docs
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      # nuitka-project: --follow-import-to=LeakingModule
+      from LeakingModule import main
+      from nuitka.tools.testing.Common import checkReferenceCount
+
+      checkReferenceCount(main)
+
+-  Make "SELECT_METACLASS" meta class selection transparent.
+
+   Looking at the "SELECT_METACLASS" it should become an anonymous
+   helper function. In that way, the optimization process can remove
+   choices at compile time, and e.g. in-line the effect of a meta class,
+   if it is known.
+
+   This of course makes most sense, if we have the optimizations in
+   place that will allow this to actually happen.
+
+-  Keeping track of iterations
+
+   The trace collection trace should become the place, where variables
+   or values track their use state. The iterator should keep track of
+   the "next()" calls made to it, so it can tell which value to given in
+   that case.
+
+   That would solve the "iteration of constants" as a side effect and it
+   would allow to tell that they can be removed.
+
+   That would mean to go back in the tree and modify it long after.
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = iter((2, 3))
+      b = next(a)
+      c = next(a)
+      del a
+
+   It would be sweet if we could recognize that as:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = iter((2, 3))
+      b = side_effect(next(a), 2)
+      c = side_effect(next(a), 3)
+      del a
+
+   That trivially becomes:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = iter((2, 3))
+      next(a)
+      b = 2
+      next(a)
+      c = 3
+      del a
+
+   When the ``del a`` is examined at the end of scope, or due to another
+   assignment to the same variable, ending the trace, we would have to
+   consider of the ``next`` uses, and retrofit the information that they
+   had no effect.
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = iter((2, 3))
+      b = 2
+      b = 3
+      del a
+
+-  Aliasing
+
+   Each time an assignment is made, an alias is created. A value may
+   have different names.
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = iter(range(9))
+      b = a
+      c = next(b)
+      d = next(a)
+
+   If we fail to detect the aliasing nature, we will calculate ``d``
+   wrongly. We may incref and decref values to trace it.
+
+   Aliasing is automatically traced already in SSA form. The ``b`` is
+   assigned to version of ``a``. So, that should allow to replace it
+   with this:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      a = iter(range(9))
+      c = next(a)
+      d = next(a)
+
+   Which then will be properly handled.
+
+-  Tail recursion optimization.
+
+   Functions that return the results of calls, can be optimized. The
+   Stackless Python does it already.
+
+-  Integrate with "upx" compression.
+
+   Calling "upx" on the created binaries, would be easy.
+
+-  In-lining constant "exec" and "eval".
+
+   It should be possible to re-formulate at least cases without "locals"
+   or "globals" given.
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      def f():
+          a = 1
+          b = 2
+
+          exec("""a+=b;c=1""")
+
+          return a, c
+
+   Should become this here:
+
+   .. code:: python
+
+      def f():
+          a = 1
+          b = 2
+
+          a += b  #
+          c = 1  # MaybeLocalVariables for everything except known local ones.
+
+          return a, c
+
+   If this holds up, inlining ``exec`` should be relatively easy.
+
+-  Original and overloaded built-ins
+
+   This is about making things visible in the node tree. In Nuitka
+   things that are not visible in the node tree tend to be wrong. We
+   already pushed around information to the node tree a lot.
+
+   Later versions, Nuitka will become able to determine it has to be the
+   original built-in at compile time, then a condition that checks will
+   be optimized away, together with the slow path. Or the other path, if
+   it won't be. Then it will be optimized away, or if doubt exists, it
+   will be correct. That is the goal.
+
+   Right now, the change would mean to effectively disable all built-in
+   call optimization, which is why we don't immediately do it.
+
+   Making the compatible version, will also require a full listing of
+   all built-ins, which is typing work merely, but not needed now. And a
+   way to stop built-in optimization from optimizing built-in calls that
+   it used in a wrap. Probably just some flag to indicate it when it
+   visits it to skip it. That's for later.
+
+   But should we have that both, I figure, we could not raise a
+   ``RuntimeError`` error, but just do the correct thing, in all cases.
+   An earlier step may raise ``RuntimeError`` error, when built-in
+   module values are written to, that we don't support.
+
+******************
+ Prongs of Action
+******************
+
+In this chapter, we keep track of prongs of action currently ongoing.
+This can get detailed and shows things we strive for.
+
+Builtin optimization
+====================
+
+Definitely want to get built-in names under full control, so that
+variable references to module variables do not have a twofold role.
+Currently they reference the module variable and also the potential
+built-in as a fallback.
+
+In terms of generated code size and complexity for modules with many
+variables and uses of them that is horrible. But ``some_var`` (normally)
+cannot be a built-in and therefore needs no code to check for that each
+time.
+
+This is also critical to getting to whole program optimization. Being
+certain what is what there on module level, will enable more definitely
+knowledge about data flows and module interfaces.
+
+Class Creation Overhead Reduction
+=================================
+
+This is more of a meta goal. Some work for the metaclass has already
+been done, but that is Python2 only currently. Being able to to decide
+built-ins and to distinguish between global only variables, and
+built-ins more clearly will help this a lot.
+
+In the end, empty classes should be able to be statically converted to
+calls to ``type`` with static dictionaries. The inlining of class
+creation function is also needed for this, but on Python3 cannot happen
+yet.
+
+Memory Usage at Compile Time
+============================
+
+We will need to store more and more information in the future. Getting
+the tree to be tight shaped is therefore an effort, where we will be
+spending time too.
+
+The mix-ins prevent slots usage, so lets try and get rid of those. The
+"children having" should become more simple and faster code. I am even
+thinking of even generating code in the meta class, so it's both optimal
+and doesn't need that mix-in any more. This is going to be ugly then.
+
+Coverage Testing
+================
+
+And then there is coverage, it should be taken and merged from all
+Python versions and OSes, but I never managed to merge between Windows
+and Linux for unknown reasons.
+
+Python3 Performance
+===================
+
+The Python3 lock for thread state is making it slower by a lot. I have
+only experimental code that just ignores the lock, but it likely only
+works on Linux, and I wonder why there is that lock in the first place.
+
+Ignoring the locks cannot be good. But what updates that thread state
+pointer ever without a thread change, and is this what ABI flags are
+about in this context, are there some that allow us to ignore the locks.
+
+An important bit would be to use a thread state once acquired for as
+much as possible, currently exception helpers do not accept it as an
+argument, but that ought to become an option, that way saving and
+restoring an exception will be much faster, not to mention checking and
+dropping non interesting, or rewriting exceptions.
+
+Caching of Python level compilation
+===================================
+
+While the C compilation result is already cached with `ccache` and
+friends now, we need to also cover our bases and save the resulting node
+tree of potential expensive optimization on the module level.
+
+*************************
+ Updates for this Manual
+*************************
+
+This document is written in REST. That is an ASCII format which is
+readable to human, but easily used to generate PDF or HTML documents.
+
+You will find the current source under:
+https://github.com/Nuitka/Nuitka/blob/develop/Developer_Manual.rst
+
+And the current PDF under: https://nuitka.net/doc/Developer_Manual.pdf