On Thu, 29 Dec 2005 00:41:58 +0100, Andreas Kostyrka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[on research supposedly proving that Python is faster than C, Java and Fortran and assembly] > Well, it's easy enough to "prove". > > Take one aspect of Python: Automatic memory management via reference > counting. > > Now, while it's certainly possible to implement exactly what Python does > in C++ (both are turing complete, ...), the normal and idiomatic way is > to have APIs that care about object ownership. Your discussion is interesting but a bit misleading, because most function calls in C++ don't involve ownership issues. Most parameters are passed by value (for reasonably small things, copying on a warm stack is bloody fast!) or by const reference, with the understanding that the callee doesn't steal or borrow a reference to the object. Or, the whole thing is inlined. Yes, it sometimes happens that you have to have weirder things happen to your objects -- but only to a tiny fraction of them, not all of them as in Python. I cannot see how that would make Python, in general, faster than C++. > The normal idiomatic way > is relevant, as third-party libraries usually force one to develop this > way. I never use third-party C++ libraries, but I can see how an overly complex, obsolete and badly designed API (MFC, anone? Or CORBA monstrosities.) could complicate this a lot. /This/ is an area where C++ and similar languages lose to Python -- you have to be an expert to write reusable C++ APIs which don't suck! /Jorgen -- // Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu \X/ snipabacken.dyndns.org> R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn! -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
