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From: flee@shire.cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: speed: V2 verses V3
Message-ID: <1989Dec19.013655.431@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 89 01:36:55 GMT
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Larry Wall <lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> wrote:
> This particular script is exercising almost none of the constructs
> that were sped up in perl 3, and several of the constructs that were
> slowed down.

Yes, I suspected as much, especially the associative array references.
I offered that script as an example of a typically expensive text
application.  Most perl-as-a-report-generator applications aren't
going to be nearly as expensive, but will do much the same thing.
Assocs are more useful than normal arrays for report generation;
they're natural for tabulating data.  (That's why the reverse-cat in
awk is so slow: awk has assocs, not regular arrays.)

But anyway, the enhancements in version 3 are great for all those
writing serious applications (like newsreaders:-) in Perl.
--
Felix Lee	flee@shire.cs.psu.edu	*!psuvax1!flee