What is Python good for?

[Alex Martelli]

"Peter Hansen" <peter at engcorp.com> wrote in message
news:3BA29952.AF81B7AD at engcorp.com...
    ...
> Not speaking for Cameron, but I would say that the phrase
> "hand-tune" implies specifically *not* using tools such as
> profilers in the process.  I think most programmers who

I can't speak for Cameron either, but that's not how _I_
use the phrase.  To me, it implies tuning by hand, rather
than via some automatic scheme (as I recall using on SGI
machines many years ago) whereby the code would first be
compiled in a mode where it keeps a log (e.g. of what way
the branches go, cache behavior, paging behavior...) over
"typical use sessions", then the compiler is run again
(with the log as input) and builds compiler-tuned code
(by optimizing branch prediction, cache use, locality of
references to minimize page faults, etc).

When I hand-tune code I still use a lot of tools, such
as profilers, editors, disassemblers (when the compiler
itself can't give me a readable machine-code listing),
just not as automatic and integrated tools as I would
if the "tuning" abilities were built into the compiler.


Alex