Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!PENNDRLS.BITNET!DAVID From: DAVID@PENNDRLS.BITNET Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: Forth "Pre-Compiler" Message-ID: <8807221513.AA05347@jade.berkeley.edu> Date: 21 Jul 88 22:38:56 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: Forth Interest Group International List Organization: The Internet Lines: 20 Someone whose name I have lost wrote: >Why I LOVE Forth: > > It is FAST! -- Above all else, Forth is one of the fastest > executing languages around. Since it is functionally both a > compiler and an interpreter, this speed is evident both in the > execution of the program and in it's compilation. The speed of > Forth also makes for rapid prototyping. > The claim that FORTH is one of the fastest executing languages around makes me think the author has used only interpreters previously. By its very nature FORTH programs *must* be slower than programs generated by a good optimizing compiler. The gap can be closed (in some cases to almost nil) by coding hot loops in assembler and by using a direct threading FORTH, but overall FORTH *must* still be slower. Of course, if you take the time to learn good FORTH coding techniques your programs (both in FORTH and elsewhere) will tend to get more efficient :-). -- R. David Murray (DAVID@PENNDRLS.BITNET, DAVID@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU)