Language comparisons

[Grant Edwards]

In article <QM%J6.96455$HF.21774089 at news4.rdc1.on.home.com>, Nick Perkins wrote:

>Things can usually be done many ways in python, and it is
>rarely obvious which will be fastest.

That's an interesting observation.  I don't think it's true about C -- but C
is much lower level and an experienced programmer will have a pretty good
idea what code the compiler will generate for various constructs (at least
that's the case in the embedded world -- maybe it isn't for other
environments).

Is that observation generally true of higher-level languages like Python,
Scheme, and Smalltalk -- or is there something about Python that makes it
uniquely difficult to guess what will be the fastest?

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