Speed of Python vs. Perl

[Alex Martelli]

"Skip Montanaro" <skip at mojam.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.979222336.4917.python-list at python.org...
>
>     Tim> Indeed, on my box, I can clearly see the difference between:
>     Tim> python -c "print 'hi'"
>     Tim> and
>     Tim> perl -e "print 'hi'"
>     Tim> by eyeball (the former takes a noticeable fraction of a second;
the latter
>     Tim> appears instantaneous).
>
> Then you have better reflexes than anyone suspected or you need a better
box
> (I thought you had a 700+ MHz thingamabob)...  On my box (being similarly

...running some sort of Windows...

> of-course-it-could-be-a-windows-/-linux-thing-jab-jab-ly y'rs,

I'm anything but a Windows-basher (as long as the market pays me for
Windows apps, that's where I'll mostly work -- I'm a grrrreedy guy),
but such aspects as the delays connected with starting something at
the commandline ARE noticeably different... Windows is VERY slow.  I
have no objective measurements of this, but subjectively it seems that
commandline apps are slower and slower with each passing Win release
(not that the GUI ones are speed demons, mind you -- nor the
daem^H^H^H^H services, etc)...


Alex