> Python is not the best language for any particular task, but is nearly always the second best language for that task
Pointing out any problem where speed is the difference between working and unusable—e.g. ray tracing—is probably too cheap a shot, as it’s not like Ruby or Perl are any better in that regard, and LuaJIT came too late to be relevant to the current question.
One range of problems where I’ve found Python (unextended by a code generator) to be surprisingly awful, though, is everywhere the ML style of algebraic datatypes + pattern matching is natural: compilers, basically, all the way down to a regex engine. There’s just no comparison.
Maybe things have changed now that `match` exists? I’ve not yet had the time to try, even if the double indentation doesn’t make me hopeful.
Pointing out any problem where speed is the difference between working and unusable—e.g. ray tracing—is probably too cheap a shot, as it’s not like Ruby or Perl are any better in that regard, and LuaJIT came too late to be relevant to the current question.
One range of problems where I’ve found Python (unextended by a code generator) to be surprisingly awful, though, is everywhere the ML style of algebraic datatypes + pattern matching is natural: compilers, basically, all the way down to a regex engine. There’s just no comparison.
Maybe things have changed now that `match` exists? I’ve not yet had the time to try, even if the double indentation doesn’t make me hopeful.