[oak perl] New IBM/Sony/Toshiba microprocessor is good news for Perl

[Adrien Lamothe]

Yes, a performance increase benefits all software.
As I said, interpreted languages will always run
slower than their compiled cousins. However, there
is a "threshold" principle in effect that determines
whether a particular programming language or 
environment should be considered for a particular
application. If using an interpreted language will
result in an app that is too slow, then the language
should not be used. When an increase in hardware
performance enables the same interpreted language
to cross the threshold and perform acceptably, then
you can evaluate the interpreted language against
compiled languages using criteria such as ease
of use, useful programming constructs (such as
powerful regular expression capability,) etc.
Even though the compiled languages will still perform
faster, the interpreted language is now "good enough"
(and probably better than just "good enough"),
which then gives the designer latitude to consider
other factors.

There is no doubt that the coming large performance
increases will result in better 3-D games and
media (Toshiba plans to use the new processor in
televisions.) This will at some point create a
new wave in consumer electronics spending. 
People are always looking for better entertainment 
and "eye candy." Languages like Perl may even
find their way into the new high-performance
entertainment appliances (Sony plans to use the
new processor in Playstation-3.) These appliances
are essentially general purpose computers with
networking capability. Perl could be used for
administrative tasks on these machines; probably
not accessible to the users, but useful to the
developers.

-- Adrien


--- Belden Lyman <blyman at iii.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 2005-02-08 at 11:48, Adrien Lamothe wrote:
> > What does this have to do with Perl? Well, as an
> > interpreted language, Perl programs will always
> > run slower than their compiled cousins.
> Interpreted
> > languages always benefit from hardware speed
> > increases. So, on this newer hardware, Perl may
> > be considered for tasks that it previously wasn't.
> 
> Why do you say "interpreted languages always benefit
> from
> hardware speed increases"? Isn't an increase in
> hardware
> speed an across-the-board gain for all software
> using that
> hardware?
> 
> I mean, sure, perl programs will run faster, but
> they won't
> run any faster in comparison to other programs.
> 
> Personally, I hope that the increase in CPU speed
> allows
> for better 3-d games and cooler special effects in
> films.
> And perhaps better software testing.
> 
> Did anyone see http://tinyurl.com/7yr6s in Popular
> Science
> last month, which showed how inkjet printers are
> doing some
> very wierd things? (Like printing a cat heart: no
> kidding.)
> 
> Next url also visits same site in case you don't
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> 
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> 
> Just copy-paste onto one line of your browser.
> 
> Belden, srand()'ing Oakland.pm since the very
> beginning!
> 
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> 


=====
Adrien Lamothe
www.adriensweb.com


		
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