4 ms·

I think the benchmarks would tell us much more if they compared implementations of text book algorithms (and data structures) instead of comparing solutions to

I think the benchmarks would tell us much more if they compared implementations of text book algorithms (and data structures) instead of comparing solutions to text book problems. I realize that this would not necessarily make the code any more realistic or idiomatic. On the contrary, it could make the code extremely contrived for some algorithms in some languages. Some combinations might even be unimplementable. But I don't care about that, because, as you say, what is and isn't idiomatic is very subjective and it gets thrown out anyway once we decide that some piece of code does need to run fast. What makes these benchmarks pretty useless is that you don't know whether the choice of algorithm or the choice of programming language dominates a particular result.

titanomachy 11y ago
Well, you can learn something if you read the code at least.
igouy 11y ago
>>implementations of text book algorithms<< You can do that comparison and publish the results. >> choice of algorithm or the choice of programming language<< Do the n-body programs implement different algorithms? http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/performance.php?test=nbody http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/performance.php...
- fauigerzigerk 11y ago
  Sorry, my mistake. I thought that they did not mandate one particular algorithm, but apparently I was wrong. They say: "We are trying to show the performance of various programming language implementations - so we ask that contributed programs not only give the correct result, but also use the same algorithm to calculate that result." Thanks for the correction.
  - igouy 11y ago
    Well, "we ask" is not the same as "we receive" :-) Also, because of the differences between such a wide range of programming languages, there has to be some slop and flexibility in the way the programs are allowed to be written -- otherwise it really would be C written in Haskell. http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/dont-jump-to-conclusions.html#comparison http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/dont-jump-to-conclus...
deleted 11y ago
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titanomachy 11y ago

Well, you can learn something if you read the code at least.

igouy 11y ago

>>implementations of text book algorithms<< You can do that comparison and publish the results. >> choice of algorithm or the choice of programming language<< Do the n-body programs implement different algorithms? http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/performance.php?test=nbody http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64q/performance.php...

fauigerzigerk 11y ago
Sorry, my mistake. I thought that they did not mandate one particular algorithm, but apparently I was wrong. They say: "We are trying to show the performance of various programming language implementations - so we ask that contributed programs not only give the correct result, but also use the same algorithm to calculate that result." Thanks for the correction.
- igouy 11y ago
  Well, "we ask" is not the same as "we receive" :-) Also, because of the differences between such a wide range of programming languages, there has to be some slop and flexibility in the way the programs are allowed to be written -- otherwise it really would be C written in Haskell. http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/dont-jump-to-conclusions.html#comparison http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/dont-jump-to-conclus...

deleted 11y ago

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