Re: [Caml-list] productivity improvement

[Shannon --jj Behrens <jjinux@yahoo.com>]

>     Oleg> What are the _simplest_ examples that
> demonstrate
>     Oleg> considerable (> 2:1) O'Caml vs C++
> productivity improvement
>     Oleg> (in terms of program size) and where can I
> find them?

I wrote a bunch of programs comparing several
languages using two different algorithms ("Simple" and
"Modcount") for finding primes.  Eventually, I hope to
throw these up on a Web page, but here is a summary of
the results:

Simple:
  C:
    Source: 76 lines
    Binary: 5833 bytes
    Sample Run: 1.56 seconds
  Cyclone:
    Source: 63 lines
    Binary: 127264 bytes
    Sample Run: 1.63 seconds
  Ocaml:
    Source: 35 lines
    Binary: 138726 bytes
    Sample Run: 3.57 seconds
  Python:
    Source: 28 lines
    Binary: 1629 bytes
    Sample Run: 13.6 seconds

ModCount:
  C:
    Source: 95 lines
    Binary: 6020 bytes
    Sample Run: 1.08 seconds
  Cyclone:
    Source: 83 lines
    Binary: 127391 bytes
    Sample Run: 1.35 seconds
  Ocaml:
    Source: 54 lines
    Binary: 139091 bytes
    Sample Run: 3.66 seconds
  Python:
    Source: 44 lines
    Binary: 4054 bytes
    Sample Run: 91.8 seconds

Line counts do not include blank lines or comments.
Sample runs were calculated using "time ./executable
5000".  Ocaml programs where compiled using the native
compiler.  Python binary sizes were taken from .pyo's
which still require the Python interpretter.  My
friend did a Java version.  It required more lines of
code that OCAML, and was slightly slower.  I don't
have the exact numbers, so I haven't written them
here. :(

Here are some of the things that I learned:

1) C is the fastest (of course).
2) Python requires the fewest lines of code.
3) Ocaml provides (in my mind) the best ratio of
execution speed per lines of code.
4) I don't agree that having a higher level language
will often result in using better algorithms, which
compensate for the language overhead.

I have the code of the programs, if you wish.

Best Regards,
-jj

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