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=0.2 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,dab7d920e4340f12 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,dab7d920e4340f12 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public From: Lawrence Kirby Subject: Re: C is 'better' than Ada because... Date: 1996/07/27 Message-ID: <838507087snz@genesis.demon.co.uk>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 170782017 x-nntp-posting-host: genesis.demon.co.uk references: <31e02c32.342948604@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov> <4rr961$hdk@btmpjg.god.bel.alcatel.be> <31e180c5.430136383@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov> <4s4adc$l4a@ecuador.it.earthlink.net> <31EA0B65.3EF8@wgs.estec.esa.nl> <31EF7E48.5ABE@lmtas.lmco.com> <01bb7bfc$3c5ca460$96ee6fcf@timhome2> x-mail2news-path: genesis.demon.co.uk organization: none reply-to: fred@genesis.demon.co.uk newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c Date: 1996-07-27T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <01bb7bfc$3c5ca460$96ee6fcf@timhome2> tim@airshields.com "Tim Behrendsen" writes: >The one big advantage C has traditionally had over other >languages is efficient compilation. The reason is that 'C' is one >of the few languages that provides concepts such as register >variables to give hints to the compiler. register should make minimal difference these days, I believe some compilers ignore it (at least for optimisation purposes). Register aloocation/colouring schemes can work at a much finer grain than can be specified in the source code and can give better results. >Yes, you can wave your hand and say, "well, the compiler >should take care of that". But then, reality rears its head, and >we realize that there are *no* compilers that are that smart. This depends on the archetecture. I suspect that many compilers can do better than humans in most circumstances unless the human uses feedback (looking at the generated assemby and tweaking which is often a case of trial and error). Feedback compilers (i.e. where the compiler takes profiling data to work out the most critical parts of the code along with branch prediction data) will probably do an even better job. -- ----------------------------------------- Lawrence Kirby | fred@genesis.demon.co.uk Wilts, England | 70734.126@compuserve.com -----------------------------------------