Re: [Hampshire] [Tech] The 'speed of a language'

> I'd
> guess for most (non-climate-modelling) applications - compilation speed on
> modern hardware isn't much of an overhead.

Go rebuild something like OpenOffice or gcc4 and try to make the same
claim...

> So once a program is compiled - is any language faster than any other
> nowadays? Two programs: one in C, one in Java doing the identical job -
> is there anything anywhere that says one will always be faster for
> non-trivial applications?

Although compilers of similar quality will tend to create fragments that
run at the same speed, the same is not necessarily true for applications -
as soon as you bring in things like automated garbage collection, you run
the risk of descheduling your app for GC. This generally ruins your
performance...

As a general rule, the closer you are to the metal, the greater the
*potential* for speed, but the higher the level of skill required to
achieve that potential.

Vic.