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JavaScript has fewer problematic features than Python which makes it possible to write efficient implementations. Also it has a standard which Python does not.

fovc 10y ago
What are the problematic features in Python that are not in JS? I'm not as familiar with JS
optimuspaul 10y ago
What do you mean Python doesn't have a standard? There is a very mature standard and process for managing that standard.
- chrisseaton 10y ago
  There isn't a document describing the semantics of Python is there? That's what people mean by a 'standard'. Something at least trying to be somewhat semi-formal. If you mean that the implementation of CPython is a standard, well then I suppose that's arguable, but it's really not what anyone means.
  - ak217 10y ago
    https://docs.python.org/3.5/reference/ https://docs.python.org/3.5/reference/ I'm not sure why Armin is so categorical, but perhaps one way to rephrase what he said is that ES6 has had more opportunity to flesh out the spec/edge cases than Python, due to Javascript's popularity and healthy competition between implementations.
    - the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
      Because I spent months of my life a few years ago trying to work on modernizing the Python interpreter and it made me a bitter person. There is so much bizarre behavior in the interpreter that people depend on which is entirely undocumented and non standardized. Very few people know what even such a simple thing as "a + b" does in the language.
chrisseaton 10y ago
The question was about whether it is technically possible to create a Python as fast as JavaScript, ignoring the money needed. So the number of features doesn't matter, only whether or not they are all possible to implement efficiently, and the lack of a standard doesn't matter, as with infinite money you could test comprehensively.
- jstimpfle 10y ago
  No need to disqualify the answer. The point of my question was of course to learn about aspects of Javascript-the-language that make it intrinsically easier to build a fast implementation for than building one for python. If there are just more difficult-to-implement features that is interesting as well (although it would be nice to know which ones).

fovc 10y ago

What are the problematic features in Python that are not in JS? I'm not as familiar with JS

optimuspaul 10y ago

What do you mean Python doesn't have a standard? There is a very mature standard and process for managing that standard.

chrisseaton 10y ago
There isn't a document describing the semantics of Python is there? That's what people mean by a 'standard'. Something at least trying to be somewhat semi-formal. If you mean that the implementation of CPython is a standard, well then I suppose that's arguable, but it's really not what anyone means.
- ak217 10y ago
  https://docs.python.org/3.5/reference/ https://docs.python.org/3.5/reference/ I'm not sure why Armin is so categorical, but perhaps one way to rephrase what he said is that ES6 has had more opportunity to flesh out the spec/edge cases than Python, due to Javascript's popularity and healthy competition between implementations.
  - the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
    Because I spent months of my life a few years ago trying to work on modernizing the Python interpreter and it made me a bitter person. There is so much bizarre behavior in the interpreter that people depend on which is entirely undocumented and non standardized. Very few people know what even such a simple thing as "a + b" does in the language.

chrisseaton 10y ago

The question was about whether it is technically possible to create a Python as fast as JavaScript, ignoring the money needed. So the number of features doesn't matter, only whether or not they are all possible to implement efficiently, and the lack of a standard doesn't matter, as with infinite money you could test comprehensively.

jstimpfle 10y ago
No need to disqualify the answer. The point of my question was of course to learn about aspects of Javascript-the-language that make it intrinsically easier to build a fast implementation for than building one for python. If there are just more difficult-to-implement features that is interesting as well (although it would be nice to know which ones).