Python is faster than C

[Christian Tismer]

Michel Claveau/Hamster wrote:

> Hi !
> 
> Yes, but Psyco is writted in C & Python, and it use an C module.
> Said "Psyco is faster than C", it's like said "Psyco is faster than Psyco".

This is not so much of a contradiction.

First of all, Psyco creates assembly code. Not the fastest,
but it enters an area where Python has no entrance, yet.
So what it does is to produce faster code, although not as fast
as C could, but faster than the existing C implementation
of Python.

Seconde, depending on the algorithm you use, even Python can be
faster than C. For example, a few years ago, I implemented
a fast long integer multiplication in Python. At that time,
CPython still had asymptotic behavior of O(n**2), while
the Karatsuba algorithm I used hat something like O(2**1.53).
The difference showed up with several thousands of digits, but
it was remarkable.

Later on, Karatsuba was built into the core, and it became clear
to me that *I* caused this mess, because I had the chance to
get that algorithm into the core, long time ago. I just missed it.

What I'm trying to say: Finally it is always the algorithm.

ciao - chris

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