[SciPy-user] python (against java) advocacy for scientific projects

[Sturla Molden]

On 1/20/2009 2:10 PM, David Cournapeau wrote:

> Yes, I did not want to imply it was not possible to do a fast python
> implementation, only that there isn't any today for any production
> usage. But going into C/Cython/Etc...  when one needs speed seems very
> consensual  in python community, and I am always a bit surprised by this.

I remember that using x86 assembly was consensual in the Turbo Pascal 
(later Borland Delphi) community as well. Delphi could not deal with the 
floating point unit properly, and Borland did not care, so typically all 
numerics in Delphi programs were done in assembly. And the Delphi 
community did not seem to care. Even more strange, Borland did have a 
C/C++ compiler as well (Turbo C, later C++ Builder), which created 
object files binary compatible with Delphi (and incompatible with 
Microsoft C). But even still, the Delphi community preferred assembly to 
C for speeding up floating point operations. Sometimes it can be hard to 
understand human behaviour.

 > But I was not born 30 years ago, so this can just be one more
 > proof of my lack of imagination,

I was born 30 year ago, but at that time we could not afford a 
television set. And where I lived, FM radio broadcasts were still in 
mono only. Using satellite antennas for television was a felony. And it 
was prohibited for any store to be open after 4 PM. Needless to say, I 
had very little knowledge of computers at that time.

S.M.