> The Python version had less code that ran faster and was far easier to read and maintain. I'm surprised by the "ran faster" part. Does anyone has an explanat

> The Python version had less code that ran faster and was far easier to read and maintain. I'm surprised by the "ran faster" part. Does anyone has an explanation? My guess would be that part of it is a better understanding of the problem, part of it may be better libraries, and part of it may be that the FOSS Common Lisp compilers in 2005 were not as good as now, but that's just a guess.