Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!snorkelwacker!paperboy!meissner From: meissner@osf.org (Michael Meissner) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c Subject: Re: a style question Message-ID: Date: 5 Oct 90 19:11:14 GMT References: <7341@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <1990Sep30.050655.13212@zoo.toronto.edu> <4762@navy8.UUCP> <537@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US> Sender: news@OSF.ORG Organization: Open Software Foundation Lines: 36 In-reply-to: friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US's message of 5 Oct 90 04:45:57 GMT In article <537@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US> friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US (Steve Friedl) writes: | In article <4762@navy8.UUCP>, kreidler@motcid.UUCP (Joe Kreidler) writes: | > | > As software systems keep getting larger and more complex, it is | > important to develop code that is easy to understand and can be ported | > to new applications. This comes at the cost of less efficient code | > (when compared to assembler). | | This is seductive but true only superficially. | | Q: Given two equally-talented teams of programmers, one using C and | one using assembler, which team will produce the system with best | execution time for a non-trivial program? | | A: The team writing in C. While the assembler folks are busy optimizing | that inner loop, the C people are testing three different algorithms | to see which one is *really* faster. Or even: A: The team writing in C has already produced two or three revisions, changing the code so that it gives the customer what s/he wants, instead of what s/he asked for. Also a possibility: A: The team writing in C, since the team writing in C has switched to a new hardware platform that is not upwards compatible with the previous platform, but it twice as fast.... -- Michael Meissner email: meissner@osf.org phone: 617-621-8861 Open Software Foundation, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA, 02142 Do apple growers tell their kids money doesn't grow on bushes?