Will processors be so fast one day that the execution time between interpreted and compiled languages will be negligible?

Question

Will Python programs one day achieve the same performance as C programs?

Answer 1

The hardest questions are always those with definite answers only obtainable in future.

I think most of what I wanted to point out has been said by ~ swim ~ . Interpreted code will always be slower: If we assume that an interpreter takes something in the range of milliseconds to interpret and convert code to an instruction, and we manage to shorten that to within microseconds (a x100 improvement), 100k instructions would still cost an approximate of 0.1 extra seconds. If you have a system which runs continuously, the delay (for code interpretation) would accumulate and eventually still build a huge margin between compiled and interpreted code performance.

The good news? Interpreters and interpreted code is almost always used where such performance is already negligible. No matter how fast the processor becomes, those who want absolute supremacy in speed will still prefer compiled code, which on the overall does less work at runtime.

Answer 2

That's great ~ swim ~ . But Cython is still a compiled language. I meant interpreters being able to interpret python and other languages at nearly the same speed as executing machine code. I guess Java bytecode interpretation speeds have increased over the years so I am wondering if this is just a matter of time for interpreting source code.

Answer 3

according to more law. I think you have to wait 10 years to achieve that.
but the problem, while we are evolving our data size is getting bigger and bigger, so that's why maybe we have to wait more.

Answer 4

As long as there are interpreted languages there will be a lag time difference between them and compiled programs. Though it may become unnoticeable to us mere humans.

Think of two runners, one with short legs and one with long legs. They both run the same distance but one has to take extra steps to achieve the same goal.
Now imagine that there is just one runner, but has a choice of legs to use.
The short legs or the long legs. Which is the wise choice? The runner can only move either set of legs at the same speed.

In my anology short legs is the interepted language and long is the compiled machine code.

Now Choose.

Answer 5

There is always a gap, especially when dealing with large data files

Answer 6

Yes this can happen if the processors are made with Superconductors.