Python is slow

[inhahe]

"Bruno Desthuilliers" <bruno.42.desthuilliers at websiteburo.invalid> wrote in 
message news:4836772e$0$6097$426a74cc at news.free.fr...
> Brad a écrit :
>> cm_gui wrote:
>>> Python is slow.
>>
>> It ain't C++, but it ain't a punch card either... somewhere in between. I 
>> find it suitable for lots of stuff. I use C++ when performance really 
>> matters tho... right tool for the job. Learn a good interpreted language 
>> (Pyhton) and a good compiled language (C or C++)
>
> LordHaveMercy(tm). Could you guys please learn what you're talking about?
>
> 1/ being interpreted or compiled (for whatever definition of these
> terms) is not a property of a language, but a property of an
> implementation of a language.

That's like saying being spherical is not a property of planets, it's a 
property of an instanciation of a planet.  Let alone that a) all known 
planets are spherical (all implementations of Python are not natively 
compiled (and you said for whatever definition)), and b) It's a far cry to 
imagine a planet coming into being that's not spherical (a language as 
dynamic as Python, or most other scripting languages, would be either 
extremely difficult or impossible to make a native compiler for).  I guess I 
should also mention that Python isn't very practical (as in "suitable", 
"right tool for the job", and "perfomance", as mentioned in the above post) 
without an implementation.  So I don't think this distinction has any use 
other than to beat other people over the head with a bat.

>
> 2/ actually, all known Python implementations compile to byte-code.
>

Which is then interpreted, but you're still technically right, because 
"compiled" can mean either compiled to bytecode or compiled to native code, 
despite what it actually did mean.  Semantics FTW!!