From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2006-07-27T04:03:23+09:00
Subject: Re: For performance, write it in C

On Thu, Jul 27, 2006 at 12:03:50AM +0900, Dean Wampler wrote:
> On 7/26/06, benjohn@fysh.org <benjohn@fysh.org> wrote:
> >...
> >
> >People talk about the 80:20 principle, but in my experience it's much
> >more like 99:1 for applications. 99% of the code uses 1% of the run
> >time. 1% of the code consumes 99% of the run time. That could be the
> >signal processing and graphics heavy applications that I have
> >experienced though.
> >...
> 
> This is the "value proposition" of the "Hot Spot" technology in the
> Java Virtual Machine. On the fly, it looks for byte code sections that
> get executed repeatedly and it then compiles them to object code,
> thereby doing runtime optimization. This allows many Java server
> processes to run with near-native speeds. When Ruby runs on a virtual
> machine, planned for version 2, then Ruby can do that too. The JRuby
> project will effectively accomplish the same goal.

This recent mania for VMs is irksome to me.  The same benefits can be
had from a JIT compiler, without the attendant downsides of a VM (such
as greater persistent memory usage, et cetera).

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"The measure on a man's real character is what he would do
if he knew he would never be found out." - Thomas McCauley