title: What does GCC have to do with a python interpreter?
body: <p>I just noticed this on my macintosh. Running <code>$ python</code> fires up an interpreter session with the following lines:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ python2.7
  Python 2.7.10 (default, Feb  6 2017, 23:53:20) 
  [GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 8.0.0 (clang-800.0.34)] on darwin
  Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
  &gt;&gt;&gt; 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The second line of the starting up text mentions GCC and clang versions. </p>
  
  <p>How are these two related to the python interpreter? Given that python is an interpreted language, there should be no whisper of a compiler at all, so I was curious as to why this is shown. </p>
  
  <p>Now here's the same thing with python3.6:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ python3.6
  Python 3.6.0 (v3.6.0:41df79263a11, Dec 22 2016, 17:23:13) 
  [GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5666) (dot 3)] on darwin
  Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
  &gt;&gt;&gt; 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This time there's no mention of clang. Why's that?</p>