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Re: Why is recursion so slow in Mathematica?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg100607] Re: Why is recursion so slow in Mathematica?
  • From: Daniel <janzon at gmail.com>
  • Date: Tue, 9 Jun 2009 03:55:25 -0400 (EDT)
  • References: <h0d6s8$spq$1@smc.vnet.net> <200906070903.FAA28150@smc.vnet.net>

Bobby,

I am not in favor of writing things in assembler. In fact, with a JIT-
compiler high-level code is sometimes *faster* than compiled code in
practical circumstances. The reason is that the compilation can be
optimized for the machine at hand in stand of precompiled for all x86
platforms or whatever you have.

Anyways, OCaml is definately a high-level language too so anyone
sticking with that should not feel like a fossil.

All the best,
Daniel


On 8 Juni, 07:42, DrMajorBob <btre... at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> As Szabolcs demonstrated in this case, using the right algorithms and  
> structures makes Mathematica far more competitive with compiled languages=
  
> like OCaml.
>
> But the difference in speed between languages is also overwhelmed by time=
  
> itself.
>
> IBM Assembler was my first favorite language (1971 or so), and I hauled =
 
> around card decks a tenth the size of my classmates; I was good at it. Bu=
t  
> there's no way I'd go back to that, just to get more speed in trivial  
> calculations. Mathematica today is a hundred times faster (or more) than =
 
> Assembler in 1971, and it does a thousand times more FOR me.
>
> If I had spent 40 years writing Assembler code, I'd have very little to =
 
> show for it.
>
> I hope that doesn't become anyone's experience with OCaml.
>
> Bobby



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