Python vs. Lisp -- please explain

[Paul Rubin]

63q2o4i02 at sneakemail.com writes:
> I'm wondering if someone can explain to me please what it is about
> Python that is so different from Lisp that it can't be compiled into
> something as fast as compiled Lisp?  From this above website and
> others, I've learned that compiled Lisp can be nearly as fast as C/C++,
> so I don't understand why Python can't also eventually be as efficient?
>  Is there some *specific* basic reason it's tough?

The issues of compiling Python and compiling Lisp are similar.  Lisp
implementers tend to care about performance more, so Lisp tends to be
compiled.  There's a Python compiler called Psyco which can be used
with CPython and which will be part of PyPy.  I'd expect its output
code to be comparable to compiled Lisp code.