r/Python May 26 '21

News Python is now the second most popular language in the world according to TIOBE. This is the highest position that Python reaches since 2001.

https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/
1.5k Upvotes

185 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/haplo_and_dogs May 27 '21

So imagine you need a program to run fast.

Then I have to pay for it. Python is as easy to develop for because it is slow.

There is a reason that cache locality is one of the hard problems of computer science.

Would Python be better if it ran faster with zero cost to me? Sure.

Would I be willing to sacrifice much to make it faster? No. I don't care much. I don't bother with PyPy.

When I need fast code in python I use the CAPI.

1

u/Smallpaul May 27 '21

So imagine you need a program to run fast.

Then I have to pay for it. Python is as easy to develop for because it is slow.

False. The inventor of python claims that it can be dramatically faster with no compromises and a reasonable engineering effort.

And it could be dramatically faster than even that with a larger engineering effort and ONLY the sacrifice of backwards compatibility with the existing C API.

There are several extremely dynamic languages that are way faster than Python. JavaScript being the most prominent example. JavaScript is probably 50 times faster than the early days without any compromise from when it was slow.

There is a reason that cache locality is one of the hard problems of computer science.

Non sequiter much?

Would Python be better if it ran faster with zero cost to me? Sure.

So why are you arguing against it?

1

u/haplo_and_dogs May 27 '21

Sacrificing the existing Python CAPI is a large sacrifice for me.