WHY is python slow?

[John J. Lee]

On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Tim Peters wrote:

> [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>.
[...]

:)

*Are* there any good (as opposed to 'good enough') operating systems in
existence?

Completely off-topic, I know: just ignore me...


John