From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,97482af7429a6a62 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,97482af7429a6a62 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 10d15b,97482af7429a6a62 X-Google-Attributes: gid10d15b,public From: dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM (David Weller) Subject: Re: Language Efficiency Date: 1995/04/05 Message-ID: <3lvbal$dov@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 100937564 references: <3lmt64$stt@dplanet.p2k.cbis.com> <3lsdnf$t6o@rational.rational.com> organization: NeoSoft Internet Services +1 713 968 5800 newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.cobol Date: 1995-04-05T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , Mike Wilson wrote: >> If there were such papers, they would be suspect. A _language_ is >> merely a paper definition of syntax and semantics; you must compare >> language translation _implementations_ (i.e. compilers). And compiler >> versions, coding styles, idioms, target platforms, etc. > >Yes, but I could generalise and say that some languages such as 'C' >were designed with efficiency in mind. That's not to say a rotten >compiler wouldn't produce huge, slow code. There _are_ very efficient >COBOL compilers around. I've heard ICL's VME COBOL compiler produces >very efficient code (but I don't have any first-hand knowledge of it). > C was designed to be quite efficient for machines in the late 70's. I'd hardly say it has a lock on the "efficiency" bag anymore. Then again, I would never claim that _any_ language has a lead on efficiency. Some languages have constructs that can "assist" efficient compiler implementations (array slicing comes to mind, and it's not in C), but that doesn't mean the compiler _writer_ has to choose an efficient implementation. Bottom line: It's _not_ the language, but the language _can_ give hints :-) However, to end the argument once-and-for-all, I did a comparison of Ada and C++. I ran both sources on top of a Pentuim system..... All it did was make the source listings a little warmer :-) -- Frustrated with C, C++, Pascal, Fortran? Ada95 _might_ be for you! For all sorts of interesting Ada95 tidbits, run the command: "finger dweller@starbase.neosoft.com | more" (or e-mail with "finger" as subj.) if u cn rd ths, u r gd enuf to chg to Ada :-)