Tiny/small/minimalist Python?

[rtk]

On Jul 2, 6:26 pm, Irmen de Jong <irmen.NOS... at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> Back in the days my port of Python to the Commodore Amiga machine ran
> quite comfortably on a 50 mhz CPU with 4 Mb of RAM. (ok ok it was
> Python 1.5.2, that has to be said).
> Python started in about 5 seconds on that Amiga if I remember
> correctly. I'm quite sure your 'ancient' DEC Alpha box is way more
> powerful than my Amiga back then.

Yes, I agree (the box in question is an AlphaServer 1000 4/200), but
the killer is the fact that the Alpha is emulating *machine
instructions* that are part of the Python image which are not part of
the instruction set of that Alpha.  That's what kills performance.
When I asked about it on the VMS Python forum I was told to give my
Alpha to a museum and get a more powerful machine :)

I did look briefly at Python 1.5.2, since it is simpler, but I'm
taking the trouble I've had as an excuse to learn a new language.  So
far, I'm liking Lua, save the big pet peeve of starting indices at 1
and not 0 as all sane people do.  I'm currently using Python quite a
bit for other projects, so it won't be neglected.

Ron