Is python really slow?

[Terry Reedy]

"Chris" <chrisl_ak at hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9215ABCC0DDC8chrislak at 209.249.90.101...
> I spend a fair amount of time on perl newsgroups, having the need to
use
> perl for various parts of my job. I am now learning Python. I am a
bit
> disheartened at how common it seems to code only some of a program
in
> Python and use C for other parts, and how much discussion here
involves
> using C for X and Y.

Newsgroup discussion gives a very biased picture of language use.  I
am sure that there are thousands of programmers quietly and
successfully using Python without necessarily knowing C(sharp) from
D(flat).  Nothing much to post about except for the occasional
unsolicited testimonial.

Extending Python with C or embedding Python in C is doable but
nontrivial.  Hence, people do it but sometimes run into problems and
questions which they bring to the newsgroup -- and which usually get
answered.  One result of the effort and help is the availability of
several extensions written im C which the pure Python programmer can
make use of.

Terry J. Reedy