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Language speed misconception

(27)

1

Anonymous: 2023-06-18 13:36:44

What caused the misconception of a certain language being considered faster than another? C vs. Python is a popular example of this, with people saying that C is faster than Python. While the output of GCC is nearly always faster than the output of CPython, it is impossible for a language itself to be faster/slower than another.
Most of the people I've seen saying this appear to be beginner programmers, so is this just one of those "common misconceptions"?

2

Anonymous: 2023-06-18 14:35:35

>>1

>so is this just one of those "common misconceptions"?

I would say it's just marketing. "High processing speed" is a usual selling point of C, so Cniles shout out about that a lot.

However, in fact you almost never needs C-tier speed, but other factors are more important (e.g., speed of development, fault-tolerant degree, high-load reliability, etc.).

So, it's not surprising that beginners fall for the Cnile marketing. That marketing is targeted on them after all!

If they continue programming and improve their coding skill and knowledge, they will eventually figure out thing by themselves.

3

Anonymous: 2023-06-19 19:12:45

>>2
Thanks rust user, I'm still sticking with C.

4

Anonymous: 2023-06-20 11:37:40

>>3
I don't use Rust. I'm mostly a JVM fag.

5

Anonymous: 2023-06-20 12:53:27

>>4
Java's based. It's a bit verbose, but overall I've got little to complain.

6

Anonymous: 2023-06-20 14:21:36

>>5

>It's a bit verbose

Quite verbose, but at the end of the day I realized that it's better to write more, but read less. All that verbosity helps reading code so fucking much.

7

Anonymous: 2023-06-21 11:04:54

There is also the misconception that there are only Common Lisp and Scheme interpreters. In reality, there are good compilers for both languages, like SBCL and ClozureCL for Common Lisp, and Chez and Chicken (Scheme => C compiler) for Scheme.

8

Anonymous: 2023-06-21 15:34:38

>>7
Also compilers into bytecode.

9

Anonymous: 2023-06-21 16:05:42

>>7
It's stuff like that which also leads people to believe that a given high-level language is strictly interpreted or compiled, an example being a beginner Python programmer thinking Python is inherently slow due to "being an interpreted language", despite PyPy and Numba's existence, both of which are JIT compilers.

10

Anonymous: 2023-06-21 17:20:41

>>9
I agree, Python is just ugly and non-readable, the ecosystem is fine.

11

Anonymous: 2023-06-21 17:23:12

>>9
Anyway, languages tend to be tied to their main interpreters/compilers. I never saw compiled Python in production. I never saw compiled Scala in production.

Probably the only successful shift case is GraalVM.

12

Anonymous: 2023-06-27 11:59:34

>>10
I truly wonder how people got so deluded into
thinking it was readable or "beautiful" even.

Christ, just stick to C.

13

Anonymous: 2023-06-27 12:50:26

>>12

>Christ, just stick to C.

C is an overkill for my projects, but yeah, I prefer C-like syntax.

14

Anonymous: 2023-06-27 13:27:59

>the output of gcc is almost always faster than the output of cpython

so C is faster than python. or are you saying compilers could magically get significantly faster? Python does a lot more work behind the scenes doing vtables and stuff. It literally translates to more assembly

15

beanie niggeanie: 2023-06-27 13:35:36

you know what would be cool? a textboard written under the BCHS web stack.

openBASED
C
Httpd
SQLite

lets make it happen

16

Anonymous: 2023-06-27 14:59:51

>>15

>openBASED

You mean, openCUCK.

17

nigeie beanie: 2023-06-27 15:51:25

no i mean OPENBASED. im not gay enough to care about some cuck ass license nigga. so long its good software.

18

Anonymous: 2023-06-28 00:15:16

>>17
ngmi

19

Anonymous: 2023-06-28 00:32:37

>>15

>Httpd

Do you mean Apache?

Httpd is a generic name for web daemons. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Httpd

20

BENAIENAI NIGGA: 2023-06-28 02:45:47

>>19

you rite you rite. got too excited tis all.

21

Anonymous: 2023-06-30 13:44:43

>>14

>>the output of gcc is almost always faster than the output of cpython
>so C is faster than python.

We're talking about the output you imbecile, and the misconception that a given language is faster than another.

>It literally translates to more assembly

Cpython compiles python code to bytecode, then it interprets the bytecode. It is never completely translated to assembly.

22

Anonymous: 2023-06-30 14:42:46

>>19
In this context, httpd refers to OpenBSD httpd. It's literally included with the OS.

23

Anonymous: 2023-06-30 18:43:19

>>22

>It's literally included with the OS

Bloat.

24

Anonymous: 2023-07-01 10:35:16

>>23
BSD operating systems have a different philosophy than GNU/Linux. Linux is developed by many different projects whereas each BSD is a compete OS and they do literally everything (except compilers) that make up the core OS. For details, see The Cathedral and the Bazaar by ESR: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/

To really understand, you need to take a look at OpenBSD AnonCVS.
Here are links to the GitHub mirrors:
https://github.com/openbsd/src (the src of the base system)
https://github.com/openbsd/xenocara (their fork of Xorg, it's included with the base install. And so are CWM and FVWM.)