Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!utrcu1!kortink
From: kortink@utrcu1.UUCP (Kortink John)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn
Subject: C,Pascal & BASIC
Message-ID: <803@utrcu1.UUCP>
Date: 16 Feb 91 17:07:38 GMT
Reply-To: kortink@utrcu1.UUCP (Kortink John)
Organization: Utwente, Enschede
Lines: 46

In article <1991Feb10.180855.17062@cns.umist.ac.uk> rogersh%t1a@uk.ac.man.cs
(H.J. Rogers) writes :

> In article <1991Feb9.075251.16439@rtf.bt.co.uk> brian@rtf.bt.co.uk (Brian
> N Butterworth) writes:
> [....]
> BASIC is good for quick hacks and fast turnaround. Pascal is good for
> beginners (it is a teaching language after all), but if you want the real
> McCoy, C is the only solution.

So you would you call all applications that are written using BASIC for
the !RunImage part 'quick hacks' ? Strange. BASIC-V is lightning fast and
is very suitable for handling the WIMP shell for the app.

If you really want 'the real McCoy', and you're programming for the
Archimedes only, you use ARM code. There have been numerous discussions
on the relative merits of C and machinecode, but there's still the need
for *real* speed sometimes. As soon as you're really 'into' ARM code,
you don't need much time to solve even complex things. Once compatibility
comes in, you use C.

> The great advantage of C is it's *lack* of built in rubbish. All the i/o
> etc. is in standard libraries, reducing the load image size of programs
> which don't need (or want) a pile of utility functions linked in.

This is a surprising statement. The all-famous 'Hello world' program, when
compiled in C, grows out of all proportions because so many libary functions
are not used at all. What's your definition of *rubbish* ?

> [...] compiled BASIC is only a tenth the speed of efficiently written
> compiled C, and 1/12 that of raw ARM code.

Utter nonsense. Good, optimized ARM code is at least twice as fast and
short as any C code.

John Kortink

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