Ada speed vs. C...

[wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu (Bill Wolfe)]

   In response to recent requests for comparisons of the speed of
   the code generated by Ada compilers vs. C compilers, the following
   results were originally described at the Tri-Ada '88 conference
   in Charleston, WV on October 26, 1988:
 
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Among the C compilers chosen were those that produced the best times on 
16.77 Mhz 68020 based machines out of a list of published dhrystone results 
for 300 compilers.  The TeleSoft TeleGen2 optimizing compiler was compared 
against four other C compilers:

          Sun/Unix 3.2 C on a Sun 3/160
          GreenHills C on ISI optimum V machine
          Gnu C on a Sun 3/160
          MASSCOMP C on RTU 3.1, NC-5700 machine

MASSCOMP had the best C compiler, our Ada compiler only beat it by a very
small margin.

The whole point of the comparison was not to prove that Ada is better than
C but that it's possible for Ada compilers to generate code that is just
as good or better than C compilers.  It takes a lot of time and effort to
go from a compiler that meets the minimum language requirements to a
highly optimizing compiler.  Ada compilers will continue to improve and
you can expect to see more optimizing compilers from a variety of sources.

Gary Morris      {uunet,ucsd}!telesoft!garym       TeleSoft
N6FRT            garym@telesoft.com                San Diego, CA, USA
ASEL             garym@nynashamn.telelogic.se      +1 619 457 2700
"If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right."
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   Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu