Python 2 times slower than Perl

[Greg Jorgensen]

"Alex Martelli" <aleaxit at yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9j4af20d2o at enews4.newsguy.com...

> Perl and Python ruled the roost in Prechelt's tests (from the POV
> of development speed), indistinguishable from each other.  C and C++
> made the fastest executables on average.  Java was bad on both
> scores -- very slow programs taking a long time to develop.  Other
> scripting languages (Tcl, Rexx) gave intermediate development times
> but extremely slow results.  Somebody else claims to have rerun the
> same experiment with Common Lisp, getting runtimes competitive with
> C and C++ and development speed competitive with Perl and Python.
>
> We could definitely do with more such tests...!!!

With all respect, why? Other than Usenet fodder what good are these tests?
The large majority of programmers don't pick their development language
anyway. When programmers do have a choice, they choose what they are most
comfortable with. Showing that language XYZ is faster than ABC, or that XYZ
programmers are more productive, will sway few corporate IT managers or
project leads with deadlines and time-to-market pressures. In my experience
implementation languages are chosen based on (a) what is already in use, (b)
what the platform supports, (c) what an outside vendor or third-party
product forces the client to adopt, (d) someone's personal preference, or
(e) attempts to rescue doomed projects with a silver-bullet technology.
Language decisions are not influenced much by benchmarks.

Most readers of this newsgroup already are convinced of Python's worth, and
we'll do what we can to spread the word. But how many of us Python devotees
will abandon Python because some benchmark shows that Perl or C is faster?
Who cares?

Every comp.lang.* newsgroup needs a parallel group where students, junior
programmers, and the newly unemployed can post benchmarks of loops doing
multiplications and debate language trivia. They can graduate to the main
newsgroup when they understand how pointless those benchmarks and debates
really are.

I know who the audience is for these timing tests: In the cubicle next to
mine is a junior programmer (fresh from Sun Java training classes, his first
language) who frequently gets into long discussions with other programmers
about language trivia and "performance." His projects are always late
because he over-designs and ends up with unusable class structures. Over the
course of the last few months he has wasted hundreds of hours of his own
time, and incessantly interrupted other people, because he doesn't
understand Excel or SQL. He's writing a set of functions--he calls it a
class library--to calculate vacation time for various types of employees.
His code is supposed to replace a perfectly good spreadsheet that everyone
understands.

Sign me, cynical and sick of worthless benchmarks.

Greg Jorgensen
PDXperts LLC
Portland, Oregon, USA