From: William James <w_a_x_man@...>
Date: 2007-11-29T00:25:03+09:00
Subject: Re: Most elegant way to do this?

On Nov 28, 7:10 am, Lloyd Linklater <ll...@2live4.com> wrote:
> William James wrote:
> > That C-code is hideous.  Let's compare it to something
> > that isn't insanely low-level.
>
> OOOOO!  I know this one!
>
> If you meant this as pascal, this is the code:
>
> function roll( n: integer ): integer;
> var i: integer;
> begin
>   for i := 1 to n do result := inc(result, random(6) + 1);
> end;
>
> There is no += in pascal.  If only...  :)  Your version where you init
> the result so you do not have to add may run faster but I golfed it a
> bit.  Still, it is far better than the C version.  I liked seeing it
> here too.  :)

Glad you liked it.  It strikes me as bizarre that so many Ruby
users who want more speed descend from the dizzying heights of
Ruby to the chthonic depths of ultra primitive C.  Why not use
Pascal?

The version of Pascal that I am using does have +=.
It's Free Pascal.  Currently it's #3 in the shootout.
(http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/gp4/benchmark.php?
test=all&lang=all)
The program below isn't as fast as I expected; random() may be
a bit slow.

{$mode objfpc}  // So that "result :=" can be used.
uses sysutils;  // for timing

function roll( n: integer ): integer;
var i: integer;
begin
  result := n;
  for i := 1 to n do   result += random(6)
end;

var i: integer;
    when: tdatetime;
begin
  randomize;
  when := time;
  for i := 1 to 3999000 do   roll(2);
  writeln( ((time-when)*secsperday):0:2 )
end.