Pyhton Interpreter Startup time

[Peter Hansen]

David Bolen wrote:
> Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> writes:
>>I think it's
>>safe to assume that anyone with a slow startup on Windows
>>has a misconfiguration or is doing something wrong.
> 
> I don't think that's a safe assumption.  For example, on a PIII-550
> box running NT that I use, the first time I start up Python after a
> prolonged absence (typically through a night when a virus scan is run)
> it can take several seconds to start.  
[...snip description of how it affects everything else too]
> I also don't think there's much room for Python to be at fault at
> least in my case - e.g., if anything it's system behavior and not
> really local operations Python is performing.
> 
> But I don't think it automatically implies that my Windows system is
> misconfigured or that I'm doing something wrong.  

You're quite right.  I should have added the qualification that
if *other* software starts snappily, but Python does not, then
it is safe to assume it's a misconfiguration or someone doing
something wrong, whereas if all software starts slowly on
that machine then it may just be a sucky machine.

One assumes that those who are posting about Python starting
very slowly and needing faster startup time are not just
complaining indirectly about having slow machines in general.

-Peter