why python is slower than java?

[Alex Martelli]

Pythogoras <noreal at email.org> wrote:

> But maybe you want to have something more fun?
> How about that?
>     read autoexec.bat,
>     sort the lines
>     create sorted_autoexec.bak

file('sorted_autoexec.bak','w').writelines(sorted(file('autoexec.bat')))

73 chars in one line.  Yeah, I cheated -- I _would_ normally put a space
after the comma, making the real total into seventyFOUR...

> 
> ///
> File source = new File("c:/autoexec.bat");
> File destination = new File("c:/sorted_autoexec.bak");
> 
> String[] lines = readLines(source);
> lines = sort(lines);
> write(destination,lines);

How delightfully quaint and redundant.  I do recall a time where Python
would take such a roundabout approach too -- of course, the Python code,
even at that time, was elegantly object-oriented, with the reading,
sorting and writing all neatly expressed as methods of file and list
objects, rather than these weird 'readLines' and 'sort' and 'write'
apparently-global functions taking the objects as arguments.  Still, all
of those mysterious 'globals' does enhance the retrocomputing taste of
your code -- one can almost see you writing it with a quill dipped in
ink, at a carved oak desk, on your steam-powered computer.  Charming!

Should you ever decide to move into the 21st century, though, don't
worry: Python will be there to help you do so.


Alex