WHY is python slow?

[Tim Peters]

[Steven Haryanto]
> Although it is generally accepted that Python is slower than
> Java/Perl/Ruby, a layman like me would be curious to know why
> exactly this is so.

Me too, although philosophers and historians have been puzzling for
centuries over how it can be that generally accepted beliefs are often
divorced from reality.  I guess it's for the same reasons that Python has
significant whitespace just like Fortran's, Lisp is slower than Visual
Basic, C++ adds nothing to C that can't be done just as well with
preprocessor macros, functional languages can't be used for real work, and
that at least one of {Linux, NT} is a great operating system <wink>.

there's-no-accounting-for-mass-delusion-ly y'rs  - tim