4 ms·
" I’d even argue that the main reason kernel code tends to be efficient is not because it’s written in C but because it’s written with parallelism and reentranc
by kunley 16y ago
" I’d even argue that the main reason kernel code tends to be efficient is not because it’s written in C but because it’s written with parallelism and reentrancy in mind, by people who understand those issues. A lot of code is faster not because it’s written in C but for the same reasons that it’s written in C. "
Brilliant.
I'd say that C programs are generally faster because C world has near-zero amount of mediocre and copy/paste programmers, so coders just know what they're doing.
- ww520 16y agoI think he missed the point on why kernel code are fast. Kernel code are fast not because it's written in C. It's fast because it doesn't do much. Most system calls into the kernel does very little; they just update some data structure and return. OS kernel is complicate because of its breadth and dependency and side effects. The call path of each call is actually fairly shallow.
- a-priori 16y agoC world has near-zero amount of mediocre and copy/paste programmers, so coders just know what they're doing. [Citation needed]
- kunley 16y agoCitation is overrated. Today anyone can publish anything and be cited by another anyone. Live in the industry for 15 years or so and observe for yourself. Carefully.
- a-priori 16y agoWhat I meant was that you made a very bold claim without any justification. Are programmers who code in C categorically better than programmers who don't? I doubt it.
- kunley 16y agoYes I know my claim, and I showed you a way to grasp it. "Categorically": that's what you said. Just observe, instead of trying to apriori-tize the world.