Re: [OT] Gibson's vision of computer languajes

["Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org>]

"David Starner" <dvdeug@x8b4e53cd.dhcp.okstate.edu> wrote in message
news:a63js4$9qe1@news.cis.okstate.edu...
>
> "Best suited language" implies that running speed is the goal. It's
> frequently not, and sometimes where it is, assembly just isn't going to
> make enough difference. I have a couple programs that need to be sped
> up. 3 orders of magnitude should get them fast enough that I can
> actually get results sometime. I may be able to make one faster - but
> only if I can reason about it easily, which assembly doesn't help. The
> primary goal for a lot of scientists is getting a correct answer in a
> reasonable amount of time, with minimal programming knowledge.
> Assembly's not the tool for that job, either.
>

Many compilers are capable of producing code that is as tight - or nearly as
tight - as a skilled assembly programmer could do. (Given the same semantic
requirements, of course. No fair requiring runtime checks of the compiler
and not from the assembly expert...) And while with one given small segment
of code, the assembly programmer might just be able to beat the compiler, I
have faith that the compiler will do a consistently better job across the
whole body of code more often than the programmer.

So if speed is the only advantage, I'd contend that for reasonably large
programs, you won't find any significant improvements to doing the whole
thing in assembler versus doing it in a high level language. Clearly, one
might hand-optimize the small percentage of the code doing the really hard
work & buy an improvement, but it isn't going to change things much to do
the whole job in assembler. Machines work consistently better at producing
high quality stuff than do humans. A skilled human with a file and a raw
chunk of steel might produce a really fine automobile engine one day. But
stamping them out with CNC machinery is likely to produce a lot more of them
at a consistently higher quality.

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/