Python doesn't specify the complexity of dicts, that they're "efficient" is a CPython implementation detail other runtimes happen to copy. Even a worse-than-linear time mapping that satisfies the protocol is still a 'dict'. Surprised you don't know this given your relationship to PyPy.
As for whether I'd prefer a 100kb "not quite Python" or sending a few MB of JS (that takes 10 minutes to translate for each change) to the browser just to handle a few functions in a cross-platform manner, I'm glad to see more options when making this choice.
I'm in the midst of evaluating a solution to running simple mathematical functions on a Python backend or in-browser (for graphing). In a case like this, a handful of crappy guarantees about the lowest common denominator arithmetic is all I need in a solution. It's easy to get wrapped up in correctness, but ease and practicality trumps it almost every time.
indeed, python does not specify the complexity, it's just what everyone expects.
Anyway, my problem is not with "not quite Python", my problem is with calling it "Python". As long as you call it "a language with Python inspired syntax", it's seriously left to the reader whether he likes it or not. If you call it Python, it's fine to have something incomplete, however provide a way forward at least. This seems to be incredibly far from supporting full Python, which might or might not be a goal.
Python doesn't specify the complexity of dicts, that they're "efficient" is a CPython implementation detail other runtimes happen to copy. Even a worse-than-linear time mapping that satisfies the protocol is still a 'dict'. Surprised you don't know this given your relationship to PyPy.
As for whether I'd prefer a 100kb "not quite Python" or sending a few MB of JS (that takes 10 minutes to translate for each change) to the browser just to handle a few functions in a cross-platform manner, I'm glad to see more options when making this choice.
I'm in the midst of evaluating a solution to running simple mathematical functions on a Python backend or in-browser (for graphing). In a case like this, a handful of crappy guarantees about the lowest common denominator arithmetic is all I need in a solution. It's easy to get wrapped up in correctness, but ease and practicality trumps it almost every time.