Re: Will (abstract) Ada code improve over time ?

[pontius@btv.ibm.com (Dale Pontius)]

In article <slrn9latb9.46.lutz@taranis.iks-jena.de>,
        lutz@iks-jena.de (Lutz Donnerhacke) writes:
> * Reinert Korsnes wrote:
>>Since Ada code is (supposed to be) on a higher abstraction level than for
>>example C, does this mean that we can expect new compilers and hardware
>>over time (10 years ?) will make a program made in Ada more
>>efficient/faster than a similar C program ?
>
> Assuming the same optimizer complexity, it might be true, because Ada
> provides more and more precise information to the compiler than C.
>
The real issue here is about WHO is trying to make better optimizers?
At present, most real-world compilers are C/C++, which don't furnish
the extra information Ada does. Therefore most optimization work likely
doesn't even concern itself with language hints to the optimizer.

In other words, if work is being done to make Ada optimize better than
C, it would probably become apparent here in c.l.a.

One possible alternative scenario is if C++ is able to give hints to
the optimizer. But in that case, I suspect that using those hints would
be more a matter of either ignoring the noise, (not using the hings) or
trying to pick the usable signal out of the noise.

Dale Pontius