4 ms·

This is cool but I think it's important to remember that they're comparing algorithmic benchmarks but modern software has many different bounds besides for raw,

by choxi 15y ago

This is cool but I think it's important to remember that they're comparing algorithmic benchmarks but modern software has many different bounds besides for raw, algorithmic processing. For example, I think I/O and database interactions are the bottleneck for most web apps. I really liked the way this article broke it down: http://pl.atyp.us/wordpress/?p=2947 http://pl.atyp.us/wordpress/?p=2947

cdavid 15y ago
Given the languages they are using, I think it is fair to say that they are interested in system-programming kind of tasks, which for google means the stacks below what you normally use for web programming (i.e. I would expect google to have their own web servers, or at least heavily customized from existing ones, etc...). For system programming, "language speed" matters much more (one definition I like for system programming, seen on lambda ultimate: "programming where both algorithm complexity's constant and memory representation matter"). Of course, in most cases, you're right. Given an infinite pool of very good programmers and infinite time, C will almost always be faster than most other languages. But in reality, you have a very limited of maybe not so good programmers, and the project needed to be done yesterday :)
gtani 15y ago
Thx for that. Java and scala-specifically, it's a pretty high-dimension space. Background: http://www.elis.ugent.be/JavaStats http://www.elis.ugent.be/JavaStats http://www.bestinclass.dk/index.clj/2010/02/benchmarking-jvm-languages.html http://www.bestinclass.dk/index.clj/2010/02/benchmarking-jvm... http://isthisclojure.blogspot.com/2011/02/benchmark-clojurejvm-5-degrees-of.html http://isthisclojure.blogspot.com/2011/02/benchmark-clojurej... https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AS8emH3-FLt3ZGRtbWJyOGdfMTFmcDZkcTk2cw&hl=en https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AS8emH3-FLt3ZGRtbWJ... Examples of benchmarks gone awry: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6146182/why-is-my-scala-code-running-slow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6146182/why-is-my-scala-c... http://groups.google.com/group/scala-language/browse_thread/thread/94740a10205dddd2/ http://groups.google.com/group/scala-language/browse_thread/...
- igouy 15y ago
  a pretty high-dimension space :-) http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15289_01/doc.40/e15060/toc.htm http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15289_01/doc.40/e15060/t...

by choxi 15y ago

cdavid 15y ago

Given the languages they are using, I think it is fair to say that they are interested in system-programming kind of tasks, which for google means the stacks below what you normally use for web programming (i.e. I would expect google to have their own web servers, or at least heavily customized from existing ones, etc...). For system programming, "language speed" matters much more (one definition I like for system programming, seen on lambda ultimate: "programming where both algorithm complexity's constant and memory representation matter"). Of course, in most cases, you're right. Given an infinite pool of very good programmers and infinite time, C will almost always be faster than most other languages. But in reality, you have a very limited of maybe not so good programmers, and the project needed to be done yesterday :)

gtani 15y ago

Thx for that. Java and scala-specifically, it's a pretty high-dimension space. Background: http://www.elis.ugent.be/JavaStats http://www.elis.ugent.be/JavaStats http://www.bestinclass.dk/index.clj/2010/02/benchmarking-jvm-languages.html http://www.bestinclass.dk/index.clj/2010/02/benchmarking-jvm... http://isthisclojure.blogspot.com/2011/02/benchmark-clojurejvm-5-degrees-of.html http://isthisclojure.blogspot.com/2011/02/benchmark-clojurej... https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AS8emH3-FLt3ZGRtbWJyOGdfMTFmcDZkcTk2cw&hl=en https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AS8emH3-FLt3ZGRtbWJ... Examples of benchmarks gone awry: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6146182/why-is-my-scala-code-running-slow http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6146182/why-is-my-scala-c... http://groups.google.com/group/scala-language/browse_thread/thread/94740a10205dddd2/ http://groups.google.com/group/scala-language/browse_thread/...

igouy 15y ago
a pretty high-dimension space :-) http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15289_01/doc.40/e15060/toc.htm http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E15289_01/doc.40/e15060/t...