> From: David Thatcher <plusphoto@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> To make it worse, most programmers
> are taught in Java-like languages, which can never be tight... and
> requires an underlying 'virtual machine' (old farts like me would say:
> interpreter) to execute it. This is also subject to bloat and full of
> security holes (I miss you, Chuck :,( ).
I think you should cut interpreters some slack!
In my (admittedly dated) experience, a good interpreter actually *reduces* the
memory volume that a given amount of functionality consumes, trading it off for
reduced run-time speed.
You can think of the virtual code as a fixed set of subroutines. So in
Smalltalk (for a lovely, but obsolete example), you had a library of 256
subroutines that you could call — some, as complicated as BITBLT, which did all
sorts of complicated image manipulation — all at the cost of ONE BYTE!
Modern RISC processors are notorious for consuming gobs of run-time memory.
“You want to add 1 + 1? That will cost you 96 bits, m’am!” How refreshing to
push two values on a stack and execute a single bytecode!
Another old favourite that seems to have bit the dust was FORTH. Like Smalltalk
(and unlike almost everything available today), it had a consistent, logical,
easy-to-remember model, but you could easily implement “new” machine-code
instructions. Compare that to the constant behind-the-scenes casting and forced
type violations that happen with almost every Java statement.
In the early 80s, when most of you were huddled in caves, banging rocks
together, typing on bended knee at the almighty “C: “ prompt, I had a
full-windowing system, consistently and logically controlled by Doug
Englebart’s new-fangled “mouse” — all in ONE MEGABYTE of RAM!
Java: the elegant simplicity of C++, combined with the blazing speed of
Smalltalk. :-)
:::: Jan Steinman, EcoReality Co-op ::::
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|