Author: Daniel Clausen
Date: 07:04:53 01/09/04
Go up one level in this thread
On January 09, 2004 at 09:56:26, Bob Durrett wrote: >On January 09, 2004 at 08:34:05, Tord Romstad wrote: > >>On January 09, 2004 at 08:14:05, Ricardo Gibert wrote: >> >>>If the if-test is seldom executed or the if-test is predictable, why should you >>>optimize it? Use a profiler to determine what "needs" optimizing. Even then, >>>think twice before you mangle the readability of your code. >> >>I'm quite well aware of all of this. If you browse the archives, you will >>probably find that there are few programmers here who warn about premature >>opitimization more often than I. :-) >> >>Have a look at this message for the most recent example: >> >>http://www.talkchess.com/forums/1/message.html?340567 >> >>However, in the present case readability is not a major concern for me. >>One of my plans for the not very distant future is to throw away my >>current evaluation function entirely, and design some sort of high-level >>language for defining the evaluation function. I will then write a Lisp >>program to transform this evaluation function to C code. If this works >>as well as I hope, I will never again have to read or write a single line >>of C code in my evaluation function, and I am free to choose the low-level >>constructs which give the fastest code, without worrying about readability. >> >>I hate working in low-level languages like C, C++ and assembly language, >>and prefer to let a program do the dirty work of churning out the most >>complicated bits of the code rather than doing it all by hand. >> >>Tord > >That sounds like the proverbial ostrich with head in sand! > >Your higher language will eventually produce c code??? Then the c code could >have either form being discussed but you will have no control over which. You >have merely hidden the problem from your own view! If you create a "compiler" >which converts your higher language to c, then you will still have to tell the >"compiler" what form to use. What have you gained? Abstraction. Using C is already an abstraction as well, since a CPU doesn't execute C-code but machinecode. Unfortunately most people hardly ever consider writing their own language for certain things. (it doesn't have to be a high-abstraction language, it can also be a moderate complicated code-generator for certain things) I think most people either underestimate these things or are simple not aware of it. Sargon
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