Suitable for Large Applications?!

[David Oppenheimer]

Dear Group,

I have just started learning Python and would like to hear more
discussion about its suitability for large multithousand line
apllications.  On one hand I hear people discussing applications that
have 10,000 plus lines and on the other I hear people say its really
only good for small tasks and for modeling.  I'd hate to spend time
getting real good at this language only to realize that its not well
suited to large applications...
Do Python programs need to be converted to C or C++ and then compiled to
be really useful AND run fast?  Or can you get away with creating a
freestanding  executable by packaging the bytecode in freeze or another
program like installer?
What are the real performance issues.  When I hear someone say that
copiling the Python code took hours and compiling equivalent C code took
seconds, tends to get a newbie like me less enthused.  Should I take
back my O'Reilly Python book and get a book on learning C++?!

David O.