title: python Global Interpreter Lock GIL problem
body: <p>I want to provide a service on the web that people can test out the performance of an algo, which is written in python and running on the linux machine</p>
  
  <p>basically what I want to do is that, there is a very trivial PHP handler, let's say start_algo.php, which accepts the request coming from browser, and in the php code through system() or popen() (something like exec( "python algo.py" ) ) to issue a new process running the python script, I think it is doable in this part</p>
  
  <p>problem is that since it is a web service, surely it has to serve multiple users at the same time, but I am quite confused by the Global Interpreter Lock GIL <a href="http://wiki.python.org/moin/GlobalInterpreterLock" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.python.org/moin/GlobalInterpreterLock</a>
  that the 'standard' CPython has implemented,
  does it mean, if I have 3 users running the algo now (which means 3 separated processes, correct me if I am wrong plz), at a particular moment, there is only one user is being served by the Python interpreter and the other 2 are waiting for their turns?</p>
  
  <p>Many thanks in advance  </p>
  
  <p>Ted</p>