Python · Alternative Interpreters & Compilers

A coworker says "Python is compiled — that's what the .pyc files in __pycache__ are: machine code." What's wrong?

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More in Alternative Interpreters & Compilers

When someone says "Python," which implementation do they almost always mean, and what does that implementation actually produce from your source?
What makes PyPy faster than CPython on the right workload, and what is the mechanism called?
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What's the main risk of dropping PyPy into an existing project, beyond "it's a different interpreter"?
Is Cython just "a faster Python interpreter" you run your .py files with? If not, what is it?
Roughly how much can plain, unmodified Python code speed up after just compiling it with Cython, and where does the *big* Cython speedup actually come from?

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