The name suggests, numeric data is manipulated through this package, not in The most widespread package in scientific computing Relying on compiled optimized packages that it strings together to perform Instead, Python is used as a gluing layer, However, this comparison makes little sense, as scientific uses of Pythonĭo not rely on plain Python. So yes, plain Python is much slower than Fortran. This would be true ofĪny interpreted language, including e.g. Instruction, hence slowing down massive computations. This implies a significant overhead to each This stems from a fundamental aspect of Python: it is an If you have heard this, youĪre not alone: simply googling “why is python slow” yields heaps of pages on significantly slower thanĬompiled languages such as Fortran, C or Rust.

Python has the reputation of being slow, i.e. Let’s try to give some elements to reach a mutual understanding, by narrowing the question. The terms are vague, encouraging tribal wars between users based more on their habits on both sides than on objective assessments about the two approaches. Why are more and more time-critical scientific computations formerly performed in Fortran are now written in Python, a slower language? In our laboratory, a polarizing debate rages since around 2010, summarized by this question: In other words, focusing too much on raw performance can slow you down. To get across an unknown place, one can move faster, or find better paths.

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