WHY is python slow?

[Niklas Frykholm]

>now, if we accept the postulate that premature programme optimisation 
>is an evil and that python has been around much longer than ruby, has 
>much better documentation and that in Bruce Eckel's words: 

>"...For some reason, the creator of the language saw Python and
>decided to do a clone, and people who had never used Python thought
>it was a good idea. Harsh, maybe, but that's my impression: if you've
>used Python at all, you wouldn't give Ruby a second glance.

Sad to see someone like Bruce Eckel engage in language bashing. The
statement "had never used Python" is utterly misleading. The
Python-awareness in the Ruby-community is much greater than the
Ruby-awareness in the Python-community.

Ruby and Python are my favorite languages. It just breaks my heart to
see them claw at each other's eyes. C'mon guys, can't we just get
along?

// Niklas