Python performance

[Martijn Faassen]

see_plus_plus at my-deja.com wrote:
> This is a sensitive response which acknowledges that chess program did
> ruffle the feathers of Python.

I didn't think it was a sensitive response. He tried to explain something
to you which you didn't want to understand.

> Indeed, not only on Deep Blue, but several other chess programms running
> on ordinary PC now stand head & shoulder with the elite chess players.
> and they are written in C, no need for a customized Deep Blue.

> It proves that when it comes to performance, one does not need assembler
> anymore, but the all beloved, universal & mighty C.

Sure, C beats most other languages performance-wise. So? We all knew this
already. What are you pointing out?

> Chess is not the only proof, C is so powerful that many other languages
> like Perl/Tcl/Python/Ruby/Rebol/Lua/etc., and even C++ are implemented
> in C.

This is because:

* C is fast performance wise.

And as importantly:

* C code is reasonably portable. If you write your interpreter or compiler
in C, you know you can port it to many platforms.

> Last but not least, all major software producers including Microsoft are
> producing their products in ... C, maybe also in C++, but not yet in
> Perl/Tcl/Python/etc. AT&T implements most of its critical software in
> C++.

C++ was designed by a guy at AT&T. Microsoft's software is well known
for its performance and reliability. Great examples. :)

Part of this is also inertia -- people stick with C and C++ because that's
what they know. They don't know any better. People who hire programmers
don't know any better. You don't know any better. :)

> When it comes to non-critical, low-performance applications,
> Perl/Tcl/Python/etc. will have their chance to raise their voices.

I'll repeat the former poster: that depends entirely on the application
domain. In many application domains Python (etc) is well suited for
critical, high-enough-performance applications. In some it is not.

Okay-I'll-stop-feeding-the-troll-now-ly yours,

Martijn
-- 
History of the 20th Century: WW1, WW2, WW3?
No, WWW -- Could we be going in the right direction?