Typing system vs. Java

[Tim Peters]

[Donn Cave]
> ...
> We got here talking about static type checking, and there is some reason
> to think that could open up some opportunities for optimization.

Yet an opportunity unseized may as well not exist.  In a decade of talk
about this, nobody has volunteered enough effort to complete crafting a
static type system; and if & when someone does, it's a great deal more work
than that to do anything generally useful speedwise with it.  For whatever
reason, Python hasn't attracted the legions of grad students in search of a
thesis who *usually* get this kind of work started; neither has it attracted
sufficient funding to hire a pro for this kind of work.  Maybe we can
eventually piggyback off some other dynamic-language JIT framework, but
nobody in the Python community is (AFAIK) even looking at it.

looking-for-speed-in-all-the-wrong-places-ly y'rs  - tim