Fortran

[Marko Rauhamaa]

Alain Ketterlin <alain at dpt-info.u-strasbg.fr>:

> The real nice thing that makes Julia a different language is the
> optional static typing, which the JIT can use to produce efficient code.
> It's the only meaningful difference with the current state of python.

I'm guessing the two main performance roadblocks for Python are:

 1. The dot notation is a hash table lookup instead of a fixed offset to
    a vector.

 2. The creation of a class instance generates a set of trampolines for
    all methods. The trampolines are ordinary fields that can be
    overridden.

Both features are critical to Python's "sex appeal;" I wouldn't give
them up for performance gains.

Producing an effective JIT for Python seems like a formidable challenge
but not impossible in principle. After all, the developer *could*
provide that static typing information in, like, 99.9% of the code. That
would be feat worthy of a Millennium Technology Prize. It would be like
having the cake and eating it, too.


Marko