Python compiled on Windows

[Duncan Booth]

Franz Steinhaeusler <franz.steinhaeusler at gmx.at> wrote:

>>Yes, people have compiled Python with gcc on windows. I believe it is
>>slightly slower than the standard release, but I would guess that may
>>depend on the exact versions of gcc/msc you choose to compare, and the
>>exact compiler options you choose (or I may even be imagining it
>>entirely).
> 
> I cannot imagine, that there is a decisive difference, especially as
> in gcc, you have also a couple of options.
> 
I did a quick comparison running pystone and taking the best of several 
runs:

On one system which had the Windows Python 2.4 distribution and also 
Python 2.4 installed under cygwin:

    	Windows Python 2.4: 46k
    	Cygwin Python 2.4: 41k

On another system which has a dual boot setup:

      Windows Python 2.5: 43.7k
    	Ubuntu Python 2.5: 42.0k

So in the first case there was about a 12% improvement and in the second 
case about 5% improvement using the Windows distribution.

I don't know whether the gap is closing from improvements in gcc or 
whether there is an OS related difference as well. Unfortunately cygwin 
doesn't appear to offer Python 2.5 yet.