python simply not scaleable enough for google?

[sturlamolden]

On 18 Nov, 00:31, Terry Reedy <tjre... at udel.edu> wrote:

> The
> problem for the future is the switch to multiple cores for further speedups.

The GIL is not a big problem for scientists. Scientists are not so
dependent on threads as the Java/webdeveloper crowd:

- We are used to running multiple processes with MPI.

- Numerical libraries running C/Fortran/Assembler will often release
the GIL. Python threads are ok for multicores then.

- Numerical libraries can be written or compiles for multicores e.g.
using OpenMP or special compilers. If FFTW is compiled for multiple
cores it does not matter that Python has a GIL. LAPACK will use
multiple cores if you use MKL or GotoBLAS, regardless of the GIL.
Etc.

- A scientist used to MATLAB will think "MEX function" (i.e. C or
Fortran) if something is too slow. A web developer used to Java will
think "multithreading".