Xref: utzoo comp.lang.misc:6953 comp.object:2797
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!csn!ncar!hsdndev!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd
From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.object
Subject: Re: blip [Re: Dynamic typing -- To Have and Have Not
Message-ID: <18271:Mar2013:19:1091@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 20 Mar 91 13:19:10 GMT
References: <22032@yunexus.YorkU.CA> <11820:Mar1923:59:3591@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <19MAR91.22493670@uc780.umd.edu>
Organization: IR
Lines: 29

In article <19MAR91.22493670@uc780.umd.edu> cs450a03@uc780.umd.edu writes:
> Dan Bernstein writes:
> >Of the languages that I've used much, I find Forth the most expressive.
> Do you, perhaps, write a lot of interface code?  (Just curious)

I don't know what you mean by ``interface code.''

> (Also
> note that there are a number of efficiency problems with C, having to
> do with the semantics of C pointers.

No. Aliasing is a problem for *optimizers*. Except on vector machines it
does not create problems for code written efficiently.

> What I have claimed is that I can solve problems faster
> in a dynamically typed language than in a statically typed language.

I firmly believe that the speed of problem-solving in any language is
based mostly, if not almost entirely, on how much already-written code
you can apply to the problem. There is no reason beyond religion to
believe that dynamic typing helps reusability.

> >Would you write a compressor in a dynamically typed language?
> As a matter of fact, one of the guys at work was doing that several
> weeks ago.  I should ask him how it came out.

Yes, please do.

---Dan