On Sun, 12 Feb 2006 05:31:28 -0800, =?iso-8859-1?q?Luis_M._Gonz=E1lez?= wrote:
> You are right, we all know that, but I think the person who asked this > question doesn't want to hear a sales pitch. He asked a very specific > question regarding execution speed. Read his post again. He didn't ask a specific question at all, and he certainly didn't mention execution speed. He asked a vague, meaningless question about whether Python was "slow compared to C". Slow to learn? No, Python is easier to learn than C. Slow to compile? No, Python handles compiling to byte-code transparently, you will rarely even notice it. Slow to debug? That depends on the nature of the bug, but generally no. It is much easier to write correct code the first time in Python than in C, and even if the code isn't correct, Python makes it easier (and therefore faster) to debug it. Slow to execute? No, for many common tasks execution speed is either fast enough regardless of the language, or it is limited by things like user input, I/O, memory or other factors independent of the language the code is written in. If the task is limited by the CPU and not I/O etc., pure Python code with no C extensions or Psycho optimizations might be slower than C code, but that tells us virtually nothing about whether it is too slow. After all, my car is slower than a F-11 fighter plane, but my car is plenty fast enough for driving to the shop and back, and a car is a far more practical solution to the task even though a F-11 would be faster. -- Steven. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
