From ...
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Subject: Re: Theory #51 (superior(?) programming languages)
Date: 1997/01/24
Message-ID: <3063053847634983@naggum.no>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 211806589
references: <5c869q$ss0@news-rocq.inria.fr>
mail-copies-to: never
organization: Naggum Software; +47 2295 0313; http://www.naggum.no
newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.scheme


* Robert Harley
| So you complain about how obscure this check is in C:
| 
|   v += u;
|   if (v < u) overflow();
| 
| but you're happy with this mess to not check in Lisp:
| 
|   (locally (declare (optimize (speed 3) (safety 0))) (set v (plus v u)))
| 
| !!!?!??!   Ha ha ha!

thank you.  I needed that.

Common Lisp programmers write macros that do these things for them.  this
is another important point you missed about the lack of abilities in C.

| So you found an example where it occasionally approaches the speed of C,
| until suddenly the garbage collector stops everything to reclaim unused
| memory that should never have been allocated in the first place, but is
| so conservative that it only frees a fraction of it?  Am I right or am I
| right?

you're wrong, and you're being silly, now, instead of witty, like above.

| This thread has turned into a farce.

yeah, funny how it just did, isn't it?

#\Erik
-- 
1,3,7-trimethylxanthine -- a basic ingredient in quality software.