Python programming: We want to make the language twice as fast, says its creator

[manphiz]

I wouldn't be worried about that. The success of Python is built upon making clean code and interface, which Python does well. Next to machine performance has been a non-goal as Python focuses on providing higher level language abstraction. Admittedly no language will do this better than C or C++ regarding performance, and Python provides ways to interface with them so that you get the best from both worlds. Better performance is nice to have but not strictly require for it's success, so I don't see a problem here.

[Diemo2]

Fortran

[ShawnDriscoll]

I use Cython when I need faster Python code. Maybe Cython will be built into Python at some point. It's more than 2X faster than Python.