Re: Why does Ada compile slower than Python?

[gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com]

Fortunately, with GNAT, the slow build time is well rewarded by performance. I just have the following real case today at my job:

A certain number-crunching job is a big bottleneck since years. It has been developed as a SQL stored procedure. Then someone has made a Python version (program compiled into an executable). Independently I've made an Ada version. All three programs produce the same result.

SQL    : 12 hours run time - weeks of development work
Python :  3 hours run time - weeks of development work
Ada    : 27 minutes run time - 3 days of development work.

Now the "clou": most of the run time is actually spent loading data via a SQL select instruction. The actual number-crunching in Ada takes 24 *seconds* in total!... Since the loading of data is a "fixed cost" (+/- the same whatever the implementation language) I let as an exercise to figure out the speedup factor of the computation side :-).

G.