Comments on: Why Python is better than C http://blog.p2presearch.com/2008/07/17/why-python-is-better-than-c/ whats happening in the peersphere Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:22:55 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Bobby http://blog.p2presearch.com/2008/07/17/why-python-is-better-than-c/comment-page-1/#comment-22 Bobby Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:06:26 +0000 http://blog.p2presearch.com/?p=17#comment-22 Some of the comparison seems to be about the language itself (memory management), while other parts seem to be about the standard library (sockets, http, threads). While I can see some value in comparing the standard libraries, it doesn't seem that important to me, as there are plenty of libraries available in C to simplify sockets, http/ftp/etc, various data structures, and such. It just doesn7t come bundled with the compiler. It's also worth noting that the python interpreter is not thread-safe (see http://docs.python.org/api/threads.html), so when you create multiple threads, the global interpreter lock means that only one thread will run at a time, even on a multicore or SMP system. Some of the comparison seems to be about the language itself (memory management), while other parts seem to be about the standard library (sockets, http, threads). While I can see some value in comparing the standard libraries, it doesn’t seem that important to me, as there are plenty of libraries available in C to simplify sockets, http/ftp/etc, various data structures, and such. It just doesn7t come bundled with the compiler.

It’s also worth noting that the python interpreter is not thread-safe (see http://docs.python.org/api/threads.html), so when you create multiple threads, the global interpreter lock means that only one thread will run at a time, even on a multicore or SMP system.

]]> By: Niall O'Higgins http://blog.p2presearch.com/2008/07/17/why-python-is-better-than-c/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Niall O'Higgins Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:32:07 +0000 http://blog.p2presearch.com/?p=17#comment-16 Hi Nick, Of course Python and C are very different. I admit to being somewhat polemic in tone in this article. However, I don't think there is anything wrong with a comparison of C and Python in the context of the software I develop - which consists of pieces in both languages. I don't have hard numbers on the efficiency of Python vs C in specific cases. I have found that my Bencode parser which is written in YACC/C is about an order of magnitude faster than the equivalent Python parser. However, the vast majority of my Python programs (and I do not think I am any exception) spend their time waiting on I/O, and so it really seems like performance is equivalent. For hard numbers on various kinds of work loads, you can always check out the shootout results: http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=python&lang2=gcc Hi Nick,

Of course Python and C are very different. I admit to being somewhat polemic in tone in this article. However, I don’t think there is anything wrong with a comparison of C and Python in the context of the software I develop – which consists of pieces in both languages.

I don’t have hard numbers on the efficiency of Python vs C in specific cases. I have found that my Bencode parser which is written in YACC/C is about an order of magnitude faster than the equivalent Python parser.

However, the vast majority of my Python programs (and I do not think I am any exception) spend their time waiting on I/O, and so it really seems like performance is equivalent.

For hard numbers on various kinds of work loads, you can always check out the shootout results:

http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4/benchmark.php?test=all&lang=python&lang2=gcc

]]> By: Nick http://blog.p2presearch.com/2008/07/17/why-python-is-better-than-c/comment-page-1/#comment-15 Nick Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:04:57 +0000 http://blog.p2presearch.com/?p=17#comment-15 Hi, I've found your post interesting. However, I don't think that is appropiate to compare a "high-level-dynamic" language to a low level one. C is all about the imperative paradigm, low level structures, and is also statically typed. Python is about list comprehensions, lambdas, OO-programming AND imperative programming. It's clear to me that a lot of things will be more concise when done with python than with C. But also I think that some problems are better handled with C than Python. Also I (still) find hard to believe that for most cases, (high level) python code can match C performance. I'm not saying that it can't. I'd just like to see some numbers and detailed cases about that. I'm still sticking to C when it comes to performance. Hi, I’ve found your post interesting. However, I don’t think that is appropiate to compare a “high-level-dynamic” language to a low level one. C is all about the imperative paradigm, low level structures, and is also statically typed. Python is about list comprehensions, lambdas, OO-programming AND imperative programming. It’s clear to me that a lot of things will be more concise when done with python than with C. But also I think that some problems are better handled with C than Python. Also I (still) find hard to believe that for most cases, (high level) python code can match C performance. I’m not saying that it can’t. I’d just like to see some numbers and detailed cases about that. I’m still sticking to C when it comes to performance.

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