Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tank!oddjob!uwvax!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!lorrie.atmos.washington.edu!jeff From: jeff@lorrie.atmos.washington.edu (Jeff Bowden) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Many people's opinions on computer languages Message-ID: Date: 12 Sep 88 00:56:40 GMT References: <3938@enea.se> <923@l.cc.purdue.edu> <14147@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: news@beaver.cs.washington.edu Distribution: comp.lang.misc Organization: Ministry of Silly Walks Lines: 23 In-reply-to: c60a-1cu@e260-1f.berkeley.edu's message of 11 Sep 88 22:08:48 GMT In article <14147@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> c60a-1cu@e260-1f.berkeley.edu writes: >In article <923@l.cc.purdue.edu> cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes: >>If execution time is not that important, why should compiler time >>be any more important? >Becuase compile times are directly related to programmer productivity. [stuff deleted] >Do this a couple of hundred >times, and the lost time really adds up.... But what about the time the *users* spend waiting for the program to execute? Since the number of users in many (most?) cases is strictly greater than the number of programmers, any gains in execution speed will be multiplied accordingly. In an earlier posting someone suggested that if you need better execution speed, then you should buy a bigger machine. What if you want to target a small machine? If you can make it run in a reasonable amount time on a smaller machine, you will increase your potential market (assuming you are planning to *sell* your program).