Skip Montanaro wrote:
>  
>      Peter> On Wed, 31 Oct 2001 18:42:03 -0600, Skip Montanaro <skip@[...].com>
>      Peter> wrote:
>  
>      >> Smiley or not, you seem to be trying a bit too hard to compare Python
>      >> with C++.  They serve dramatically different audiences.
>  
>      Peter> what are these dramatically different audiences?
>  
>  Perhaps I should have phrased that "designed for dramatically different
>  audiences".  Stroustrup designed C++ with the high-performance applications
>  of his employer in mind (e.g. telephone switching).  He also had C
>  compatibility in mind.  

I recall differently.  I think it was for *simulating* telephone switches.
The need for speed was probably related only to the fact that the hardware
back then sucked, so it needed the raw performance only C provided.  The
object-oriented nature was essential for the complexity of the problem,
but given the power of today's hardware, maybe even Stroustrup would
prefer to use Python for the same thing...

-- 
----------------------
Peter Hansen, P.Eng.
peter@[...].com
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