Is Python really a scripting language?

[Chris Mellon]

On Dec 14, 2007 2:09 PM, mensanator at aol.com <mensanator at aol.com> wrote:
> On Dec 11, 10:34 pm, "Terry Reedy" <tjre... at udel.edu> wrote:
> > "Ron Provost" <ron.lo... at cox.net> wrote in message
> >
> > news:009101c83c55$4ee07a00$6501a8c0 at aristotle...
> > But here's my problem, most of my coworkers, when they see my apps and
> > learn that they are written in Python ask questions like, "Why would you
> > write that in a scripting language?"  Whenever I hear a comment like that I
> > can feel myself boiling inside.
> > ===================
> >
> > I don't blame you.  Python is an full-fledged algorithm/programming
> > language that was designed to *also* be used a scripting language.
>
> When you buy a new car, which is more important, the styling
> or what's under the hood?
>
<snip>

> That's for the whole sequence, not a single term!
>
> 25.67 MINUTES compared to 17.65 HOURS!
>
> So, sure, some languages compile to .exe programs.
>
> In the trade, we call that "polishing a turd".
>


While I agree with the sentiment, surely this can't be a good example
of F#s general performance? I would expect .NET code to smoke stock
(non-Psycoed) Python in this benchmark.