From: ara.t.howard@...
Date: 2006-08-10T12:13:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Been there, done that - language shootout

On Thu, 10 Aug 2006, Isaac Gouy wrote:

> Thank you for making a specific criticism.
>
> 1) iirc We use a random number generator in one benchmark - fasta
> http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4sandbox/benchmark.php?test=fasta&lang=all
>
> 2) It's very straightforward - if we use Ruby rand instead of
> implementing that random number generator we won't get the correct
> output.

can you elaborate?

> 3) My impression is you feel arbitrary requirements are unrealistic - I
> actually worked with a user who required a specific random number
> generator, which unfortunately wasn't provided by the language
> libraries I had available. In my experience arbitrary requirements are
> boringly realistic.

then why not some 'number of lines of code' requirements?  like you have to
write fasta in under 30 lines of code otherwise you have to benchmark on a
slower cpu since the cost of your time could have added another node to a
cluster?  (kidding - but only a little)

> (I wonder what we mean by "unrealistic" in this context? Do we mean
> "Not like the programs I work on"?)

it means that if the code one is working on can be asisted by built-in
libraries/features and/or the first few links on google and it's not taken
advantage of that one is not a computer scientist but a masochist and a money
waster - not using ruby's built-in rand is like having a brick moving contest:
not that smart.

regards.

-a
-- 
to foster inner awareness, introspection, and reasoning is more efficient than
meditation and prayer.
- h.h. the 14th dali lama