I have not used Python so I do not know. It is already on my list of interests simply because it's used as the scripting language for the Blender 3D cgi animation software, if I ever manage to get around to such advanced features.

Doing a quick googling around - python does not compile to machine code, but to byte code which is run-time interpreted. It may still be plenty fast enough, though. There is talk of a just-in-time compiler that is said to be much faster than the regular interpreters.

It appears Python relies on 3rd party libraries to handle graphics, graphical user interfaces, etc... Although it seems some libraries are generally included, just don't know which ones. That almost certainly changes from package to package. There is also mention that many of these libraries are likely written in another language such as C, for speed.

There appears to be many flavors and implementations of Python, as well as compiler/interpreters, and of course, many thousands of libraries to choose from. There's actually a negative psychology to having too many choices.

In the end this boils down to "whatever works for you is the best". Although I decry PERL for it's confusing syntax and slow speed, it appears to serve you well. Works fine for websites.

I'm impatient, so I'm like Captain Kirk who is always demanding of Scotty, "I need more speed!". Having to wait 3 seconds to load 3 million quakes into memory can seem too long when I'm waiting to see if those new lines of code I just added work as expected. I like quick feedback.

Brian