Is Python really slow?

[Tim Rowe]

In article <8gp0fh$2g4$1 at newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk>, 
mak at imakhno.freeserve.co.uk (Makhno) wrote:

> >>> Does xrange create an array of numbers 1...1e8?
> >>
> >> Yes, it does
> >>
> >No, it doesn't.
> 
> Well, if it did create an array Matlab-style, then that would account 
> for
> why the C routine was faster.

But it doesn't. That's the difference between range and xrange.

But Python /is/ interpreted, so I wouldn't expect it to be as fast as C. 
In fact, there tends to be a tradeoff between the implementation time and 
the run time. The Python literature says implement time-critical bits in 
C, the C literature says implement the time-critical bits in assembler, 
some assembly programmers hand-craft critical machine code, and you could 
always design and fabricate your own chips :-)