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- Path: nntp.teleport.com!usenet
- From: edvax@linda.teleport.com (Edward Reznichenko)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.java,comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: Smalltalk slower than C++
- Followup-To: comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.java
- Date: 19 Apr 1996 12:05:57 -0700
- Organization: Teleport Internet Provider
- Sender: edvax@linda.teleport.com
- Message-ID: <vllk9zcdofd.fsf@linda.teleport.com>
- References: <4kuavb$1dbc@watnews1.watson.ibm.com> <3174DD97.6BE1D26@bnr.ca>
- <3177048B.2CBD@alumni.caltech.edu>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: linda.teleport.com
- In-reply-to: Mike Klein's message of Thu, 18 Apr 1996 20:12:11 -0700
- X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.1
-
-
- It is not an overstatement to say that Smalltalk is slower than C++/C.
- I've done both for many years (ParcPlace and C/C++ on Suns). ParcPlace has this
- continuing problem of getter fatter, slower, and more expensive with each
- release. Things like slow refreshes, missing mouse clicks, idiotic polling
- models. Guys, Smalltalk is not a religion, it's just another tool. I do
- like the language a hell of alot more than C++/C, but to claim a speed
- advantage of Smalltalk vs. C/C++ is absurd. If my C++ guis behaved as slow as
- Smalltalk guis I'd be shot. Smalltalk needs to be about 3-4 times faster that
- it currently is in areas such as: UI, C interface. Some benchmarks I've done
- showed that for number crunching Smalltalk was 8 times slower than C.
- Write a Smalltalk program that accesses Oracle through the EXDI, then write
- the same program in C that uses OCI. You would be jealous of the speed of C.
- But then again it takes a lot longer to code in C than in Smalltalk because
- of the dynamic nature of smalltalk and the underlying class libraries.
-
- Oh yeah, and then I see people on this newsgroup saying how great ENVY is.
- We've had so much house to house fighting with ENVY that we're ready to kick it
- out the window. Source code control system it is not. Unfortunately for
- Smalltalk there is currently no viable alternative (unless you want to mess
- with change sets). ENVY has been the biggest loss of productivity to us.
-
-
- Disclaimer: All of the above pertains to VisualWorks only.
- --
- edvax@teleport.COM Public Access User --- Not affiliated with Teleport
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