[OT] Compilable Python-like language?

[beliavsky at aol.com]

Ed Cogburn <edcogburn at hotpop.com> wrote in message news:<mailman.183.1079791608.742.python-list at python.org>...
> I'm just curious if such a beast exists out there.  I've googled around some 
> and read some programming language websites but I have yet to find a language 
> similar to Python that can be compiled to binary.  Have I been looking in the 
> wrong places?  I certainly can't be the only person to want a Pythonish 
> language that can be compiled.  Even a language that just uses Python's basic 
> syntax characteristics (no end-of-statement markers, use indentation to denote 
> code blocks, less verbose syntax overall, etc) 

<SNIP>

Especially if you are using Python for numerical work, in which case
you are probably using the array modules Numeric or Numarray, I would
recommend Fortran 95. Like Python, it does not have end-of-statement
markers or use curly braces to delimit blocks of code. Code blocks are
ended with explicit statements, not indentation, a difference from
Python, but Fortran code is often indented in a way similar to Python.
Fortran 95 is not as concise as Python, but in return I would say it
is more self-documenting.

To get started with Fortran 95, you could try F, a subset compiler
that is available for free on Linux and Windows -- see
http://www.fortran.com/F/compilers.html. A project create a free
Fortran 95 compiler using GCC is well underway -- see
http://gcc.gnu.org/fortran/. FWIW, many Fortran 95 programmers'
favorite scripting language is Python.

In my experience, numerical Fortran code is often more than an order
of magnitude faster than the Python equivalent.