Python is far from a top performer according to benchmarktest...

[Dave Brueck]

Iwan:
> > The greatest advantage of Python is the great increase in productivity and
> > the generation of a much smaller number of bugs due to the very clean and
> > compact structure Python invites you to produce.
>
> So dogma dictates. And I've found it to be true on many occasions, if
> not all. BUT, the famed Python Productivity Gain is very difficult to
> quantify. And for me that's a BIG but.  I'm trying to push Python within
> my company. Nicely presented "performance benchmarks" go down well with
> management, bevause those are quantities which are supposedly
> understood.

Understood, perhaps, but very often irrelevent. That being the case, using
performance benchmarks to argue your case is a weak approach.

If you're talking to management, talk to them about something they care about,
like money. For most programs it's hard to translate performance improvements
into money: e.g. it's hard to assert that by doubling the speed of your
spell-checker implementation that sales will increase. There of course are
exceptions, but even then there's no guarantee that management would still
prefer performance above other factors if given a choice.

It's much more powerful to speak about reduced time to market, for example. Or
the ability to compete against companies with legions of programmers. Or the
decreased time it takes to turn ideas into implemented features (especially
when it's your competitor that came up with the idea). Or a lower cost of
changing directions technologically. Etc.

-Dave