New Python User Question about Python.

[Peter Hansen]

Will Ware wrote:
> 
> Peter Hansen (peter at engcorp.com) wrote:
> > An answer from a different point of view is "why bother?"
> > Python is already "fast enough" for many applications -- one
> > might even say "for most applications for which it is
> > used", and there is little interest in improving its
> > speed compared to improvements in other areas.
> 
> This might be phrased a little differently. Python programmers are
> not entirely unconcerned with speed. 

You're right, but we're saying the same thing.  I didn't say
Pythonistas don't want improved speed, just that *relative*
to other improvements, there is clearly little interest
(*relatively* little) in speed improvements.  This is really
just an observation over many postings in this newsgroup.

> Most cases where you want big performance improvements are situations
> where a particular small set of operations is taking up most of the
> time. If those operations are coded as a C extension, then you don't
> need to rewrite the other stuff that is already debugged and working,
> and you get all the benefits of staying in the Python environment.

Exactly *why* there is relatively little interest in improving
the speed of raw Python.  We all realize a more effective way
to gain speed improvements is to profile and then recode as
a C extension if (and only if) absolutely necessary.

We like speed as much as the next group of programmers.  Just not,
it seems, over many other factors we consider more important.

-- 
----------------------
Peter Hansen, P.Eng.
peter at engcorp.com