#cpython
1
2026-10-12
Show HN: I added optional chaining to CPython
unrated
I forked CPython to experiment with adding optional chaining (?.) directly to the language. For example: name = response?.customer?.name.lower() If response or customer is None, the expression short-circuits and evaluates to None. This isn't a library or a transpiler change, but a direct CPython modification. A bit about the build: I used AI extensively for this experiment. Part of my motivation was to see how far I can get the modification in an unfamiliar codebase like CPython. A couple of hours in I had a working prototype. I would appreciate feedback from people familiar with CPython internals about the implementation. Source: https://github.com/grandimam/cpython