[$] GIL removal and the Faster CPython project

The Python global interpreter lock (GIL) has long been a barrier toincreasing the performance of programs by using multiple threads-the GILserializes access to the interpreter's virtual machine such that only one threadcan be executing Python code at any given time. There are other mechanismsto provide concurrency for the language, but the specter of the GIL-and its reality aswell-have often been cited as a major negative for Python. Back in October2021, Sam Gross introduceda proof-of-concept, no-GIL version of thelanguage. It was met with a lot of excitement at the time, butseemed to languish to a certain extent for more than a year; now, the PythonSteering Council has announced its intent to accept theno-GIL feature. It will still be some time before it lands in areleased Python version-and there is the possibility that it all has to berolled back at some point-but there are several companies backing theeffort, which gives it all a good chance to succeed.