Question

So from what I understand IronPython is compiled to Bytecode which is compiled to machinecode through the .net CLR, whereas CPython is compiled to Bytecode and interpreted with the PVM. Is this true? What exactly is the CLR? Is it also a Virtual Machine?
Does that mean Iron Python is faster?
I hope someone can explain this to me.

Answer 1

IronPython compiles to Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL), which is analogous to the bytecode produced and interpreted by CPython. The common language runtime (CLR) is a virtual machine that executes MSIL. It has a just-in-time (JIT) compiler that translates the MSIL into native code.

CPython has no JIT. The IronPython wiki has this to say on perfomance:

Performance is comparable to CPython – much faster for some things
(where it can take advantage of the JIT compiler in the underlying
platform), but slower for other things (particularly the built in
container types where a lot of work has been done on optimising the
CPython types).