Newbie: "compiling" scrips (?)

[Steve Holden]

"Thomas Weber" <Tom_Web at gmx.net> wrote in message
news:bdc160$n2i$01$1 at news.t-online.com...
> > No, Python is interpreted. There are some tools that make it appear like
> > it where not, but these are only useful for distributing scripts to
> > people that don't have Python installed.
>
> I think this is what I am looking for! Where can I find these tools?
>
http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw.py?req=all#4.28

> I am still thinking in terms of 'source code' and 'binary', like in C.
> I have been trying to learn C for some time now, and I now the basics
> now, but it still feels a litte 'unhandy' and complex.
> In a book about the open source movement, I read about Python and I
> liked the idea of a easy-to-learn, object-oriented laguage.
>
As indeed why shouldn't you? ;-)

> Perhaps this is not the right newsgroup to discuss the sense of
> interpreted laguages, but can you give me a few hints what
> the advantages are?
>
Well, mostly portability. You don't need to compile into the machine
language of every platform you target. Instead the "compilation" process
generates bytecodes for a fictitious virtual computer. Then all you have to
write is the virtual machine, and it turns out much of this is also
portable. Both Java and Perl work in a similar way, for example, although
variuos techniques have been used to improve eventual execution efficiency
in all three languages. Look for "psyco" and "pypy" in Google for the latest
and most promising approaches int he Python world.

> I must admit, the only interpreted language I know is old Qbasic from
> the 'good old (Dos) times' ;-)
>
Well, you know the principles, then.

regards
--
Steve Holden                                  http://www.holdenweb.com/
Python Web Programming                 http://pydish.holdenweb.com/pwp/