Is python very slow compared to C

[Alex Martelli]

<bonono at gmail.com> wrote:
   ...
> The "=" operator in Python 

...doesn't exist, since '=' is not an operator in Python (just like it
isn't, say, in VB).  But, OK, you mean "assignment".

> is also quite different from many language
> people had experience like C 

Yes, but quite similar to assignment in Java, which is apparently the
most widely taught language nowadays.

> or VB 

Not really, because VB had TWO assignment verbs: LET (assignment as a
copy) and SET (assignment by reference, like Java and Python).  The past
"had" is important, because VB today has (among many other changes,
which overall bring its semantics much closer to what Python all along)
sort of revolutionized the area of assignment... while hiding the big
differences under syntax that's much like that of previous VB versions,
an arrangement that's guaranteed to cause trouble (one of the underlying
reasons why so many people and firms are sticking with the old version,
VB6, and refusing to move to the new one, VB.NET aka VB7; of course,
Microsoft can force the issue, by not selling VB6 any more and
eventually removing all traces of support for it).

> etc. And using the same argument,
> everyone may still be programming in COBOL now.

If Cobol's key underlying concepts had proved satisfactory to the needs
of contemporary software development, as the "class" concepts appears so
far to have, then no doubt Cobol would enjoy yet more widespread
continuing acceptance (instead, while still widely used, it's also
generally seen as being on its long, slow way out).
 
> And if we use market penetration as measure, Perl seems to be easier
> for people ?

Perl historically did gain enormous traction by leveraging the
familiarity effect, "sucking in" its early adopters from the ranks of
sh/ksh, awk, and sed programmers. Of course, that effect was most
important in Perl's early years -- once solidly established, a language
creates its own "familiarity effect".

Javascript has leveraged its early advantage in the Netscape browser to
become the only "universally available" language for client-side "in the
browser" execution, and thus established a foothold in a strong and
growing niche for prototype based, rather than class based, object
models. However, there doesn't appear to be further spreading of such
object models; "big" new languages like C# (and indeed the whole
underlying CLR framework, which also forced the semantics of VB) are
strongly class-based.


Alex