Mac vs. Linux for Python Development

[Chris Angelico]

On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 4:51 PM, Frank Millman <frank at chagford.com> wrote:
> Which version are you talking about?
>
> I have an old, slow box running Windows Server 2003 and python 3.3.2.
>
> I have just booted it up now, called up a command prompt, typed 'python' to
> start the interpreter, and typed 'import decimal'. The interpreter prompt
> re-appeared in the blink of an eye.
>
> Are you talking about something else?

I did it in IDLE, which might have added a bit, but not hugely. It was
3.4.0, so the module in both cases is the C-accelerated version. My
suspicion is that you've used the decimal module already on that
system, so you had a warm cache. When I repeat the exercise, I get
sub-second load times (usually of the order of 100-200ms); the
difference between that and your "blink of an eye" would be to do with
exactness of measurement, CPU/HDD performance, etc, etc, etc.

ChrisA