Help me choose a C++ compiler to work with Python

[d2003xx]

rh4170056 at juno.com (rhmd) wrote in message news:<616fccba.0309210907.1e35b92d at posting.google.com>...
> Just found Python and I love it.  What an elegant language!
>    I would like to use it for various applications, but the
> mathematical calculations are way too slow (a million sines 8 seconds
> in Python vs. 2 seconds in Excel VBA), so was thinking of learning
> enough C++ to do the number crunching in C++ and integrating the C++
> routines with Python.  My question:
>    My question:
>    Which compiler works best with Python?
> I use Windows XP and 98.  Have very little experience with C++.  Am
> doing statistical and other simulations that require billions of
> calculations (taking 1 to 2 hours in Excel VBA).  GCC is free, MS
> C++.Net is affordable

The standard C/C++ compiler (no optimization) is included in .Net
framework SDK, which is available for free in M$'s web-site.

> at <$100 but supposedly has problems until the
> next version (and I could only use it on my XP machine), older
> versions of MS C++ are no longer for sale.  What's the most robust
> solution?  I would also like to make .dll files that I can plug into
> MS Excel.
>    Sorry for the vagueness of this question, but I'm sure many of you
> have experience with this and any information, opinions, and even
> prejudices about the various compilers are welcome.

I guess gcc is the only choice.. If you don't mind that it takes
forever to compile C++ source code, until version 3.4 is released (it
will supports pre-compiled header).