I wrote a simple program that generates a random word 10,000,000 times.
I wrote it in python, then in C++ and compared the two completion times. The python script was faster! Is that normal? Why would the python script be faster? I was under the impression that C++ was [generally] faster. What are some of your thoughts?
C++ is indeed generally faster, but it really depends on a lot of things which program is faster when accomplishing a certain task. The following things may play a role: memory management, the way certain data structures are supported at low level, hardware. I have always been intrigued by the results from the following site: Computer Language Benchmarks Game
It's entirely possible to write slow C++ code by picking a poor algorithm or convoluted implementation. It's also possible to write fast Python code by picking a good algorithm and keeping most of the computational work inside Python builtins, being builtins execute at almost native speed.
Without seeing your code I cannot guess, for I left my crystal ball at home.