[gsam]

> For anything that takes more than half a second or so, it's usually a big win and can turn minutes into seconds.

As a counter to this, I purposefully try to use CPython in order to force me to find algorithmically optimal solutions. It's a useful way to learn.

[daveFNbuck]

Having a faster interpreter also allows me to play with the numbers more to get a better feel and understanding for the problem. I think that's the point of Project Euler, but I understand your point of view.