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From: tll@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Tal Lewis Lancaster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: Object Oriented Programming
Message-ID: <1991Jan28.171644.2307@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 28 Jan 91 17:16:44 GMT
References: <42954@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 39

NJ_GOKEM%FANDM.BITNET@pucc.princeton.edu writes:


>I am taking a seminar in Object Oriented Programming, and now the class
>seems to believe that OOP is slower than Procedure-programming.
>An article in Byte in 86 argues that it could be 50 % slower.

I presume you are talking about execution time of the final product and not
the development time of the product.


>I want to help this belief out of the world!
> Does anyone have any comments?
>Or is C++, and Smalltalk slower than regular C ???

Yes, in most cases object oriented programs will be slower than C.  One reason
is they have higher overhead.  That is to say they have a tendency to produce
ineffiecent code.  The arguments for C vs assembler speed and eiffiecency come 
to mind.  Now most decent C compilers do a good job generating small and compact
code.  In most cases the performance gained by writing code in assmbler is
no longer a concern (needed).

>The basic argument is that the computer would spend too much time trying to
>find the right "METHOD" in the tree of inherited "METHODS", since OBJECTS
>inherit a lot of "METHODS". Is this TRUE?

This was true for most OO languages.  I don't know about now, except for
Eiffel.  Its scheme of dealing with "METHODS" has always been constant.  
It doesn't matter if there are 5 "METHODS" or several thousand.

>I will make some kind of summary, and send it to the net.
>Unfortunately I can only get COMP.SYS.AMIGA (thru a bitnet gateway)

>Nils Gokemeijer
>(NJ_GOKEMEIJE@FANDM.bitnet)
>FOOBAR: Fu%!ed Up Beyond All Reality.

Tal Lancaster
tll@tybalt.caltech.edu