On 26 Mar 2007 06:20:32 -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > OK... > I've been told that Both Fortran and Python are easy to read, and are > quite useful in creating scientific apps for the number crunching, but > then Python is a tad slower than Fortran because of its a high level > language nature, so what are the advantages of using Python for > creating number crunching apps over Fortran?? > Thanks > Chris >
Dear Chris, Why are you focusing on Python vs. Fortran? There might be other choices out there you might want to consider, specifically C, O'Caml, and Ada, since you mention number crunching. When choosing, you should consider what other requirements you'll have; some people have hinted at a few, such as portability (I am not saying fortrain ain't portable) and rapid application development. Will you be doing lots of string manipulation? Processing text-files? Gluing applications? What do people around you use? What type of number crunching will you be doing? Are the libraries available in any of the languages that you are considering that do some/most of what you want to do? Are you concernded about concurrent/distributed programming? Is this your first programming language? Etc, etc, etc. In the end, maybe neither Python nor Fortran might be the best choices for you. HTH, R. > -- > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > -- Ramon Diaz-Uriarte Statistical Computing Team Structural Biology and Biocomputing Programme Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO) http://ligarto.org/rdiaz -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
