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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: Questionable Languages & Compilers
Message-ID: <erkyrathE3KI4D.BAD@netcom.com>
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References: <32b72f97@beachyhd.demon.co.uk> <1996Dec19.165314.307@wcc.govt.nz> <59cimp$2hf@life.ai.mit.edu> <59uhn6$c0@mamba.cs.Virginia.EDU> <5apmq8$j54@news.spies.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 03:38:37 GMT
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Matt Ackeret (mattack@area.com) wrote:
> In article <59uhn6$c0@mamba.cs.Virginia.EDU>,
> Norman Ramsey <nr@mamba.cs.Virginia.EDU> wrote:
> >I think you're assuming that the goals for an IF language or compiler
> >should be the same as the goals for a compiler for a general-purpose
> >programming language, e.g., the generated code should run fast.
> >What evidence have you got in favor of this position?  

> Well, this one seems simple.  Especially since many people (including myself)
> are playing these games on what many people consider "obsolete" (as in older
> and slower) hardware, making the code that needs to be emulated as small
> and fast as possible just helps in general..  Also it helps lessen the
> requirements of optimizing the *emulators*.

Any program gets pushed to the limits. This will continue to be true, 
especially in experimental (and future mainstream :-) IF programs. Look 
at WorldClass. Look at Lists -- the Lisp engine is perceptibly slow to 
start up on my 68040 machine.

Obviously there's such a thing as "fast enough"; there's a point where 
the compiler writer stops optimizing and uploads the software already. 
But equally obviously, "fast" *is* a goal. A slower system will lose 
favor versus a faster one. It's a factor that users notice. Q.E.D.

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
