Thread: C is ssssslooooowing me

I'd rather go with C++. It can be as fast as C, depending on what you do, although it may be a bit slower. However, it is also much faster and advantageous to develop in for most applications over C. I don't think the speed hit compared to C really matters (it's nowhere as slow as java or dotNet, etc).
But yes, C is faster than other languages, but also the hardest. Remember that C means a lot of security issues unless you develop good code and take extra care not to run into any security issues.

Originally Posted by Elysia

I'd rather go with C++. It can be as fast as C, depending on what you do, although it may be a bit slower. However, it is also much faster and advantageous to develop in for most applications over C. I don't think the speed hit compared to C really matters (it's nowhere as slow as java or dotNet, etc).
But yes, C is faster than other languages, but also the hardest. Remember that C means a lot of security issues unless you develop good code and take extra care not to run into any security issues.

Some have the opinion that Java is better than C++ in terms of speed.

Some of the C++ tests would not compile. I've never been very good at decoding GCC's error messages, so if I couldn't fix a test with a trivial modification, I didn't include it in my benchmarks.

*poof*, There goes his credability.

Not to mention it was only level 2 optimization

g++ [test].cpp -O2 -march=i386 -o [test]-386

While javac will optimize as much as it can.

See http://zi.fi/shootout/ for a response to that benchmark

Some have the opinion that Java is better than C++ in terms of speed.

I know another fellow who has shown that PHP beats Java in terms of speed in a specific benchmark

To properly answer Jackie Chan's question, we need to know what he is developing, since only then we can help to guage which language is the appropriate tool for the job.

Not to mention that some of the tests are needlessly complicated. The methcall example doesn't even need a virtual destructor.
C/C++'s efficiency also comes with the flexibility. Just stuff some code in there and it's sure to be slow.

Originally Posted by stevesmithx

Some have the opinion that Java is better than C++ in terms of speed.

Don't trust the info on that page. It's written by a java programmer that doesn't know what they're doing with respect to C++. They tend to use dynamic memory allocation for stuff that no sane C++ programmer would use dynamic memory allocation for. When the code was changed to allocate on the stack instead, then the test ran so fast that the timing didn't even register above zero.
Not to mention they used a pretty old C++ compiler and didn't use the best optimisation settings either.
If you want the real story then the page below runs the same code on a newer compiler, with a few fairness changes, and gets results with C++ easily outperforming java by a factor of two or three.

In Summary some will always be wrong.

C or C++ are only faster because they're lower level though. With lower level programming comes more responsibility and more ways to shoot yourself in the foot. Don't feel you have to port your code to C or C++ unless it is definitely too slow. Even then, ask some java gurus for help first too.

C++ can be as fast as C and is much easier to use. And you shouldn't be that worried about performance C vs C++, because you'll not notice it. C++ can deliver blazing speeds, as well.
C is necessary when it comes to the real resource lacking environments that cannot support C++ or where it is even more necessary for full speed.
C will give you a headache in big projects, but with C++ it's manageable.

Anyway, what are your plans? What do you intend to do?

Originally Posted by Jackie Chan

That said I never noticed speed difference between C and Perl either.

Well, it all matters how you use it and for what task. Certainly, a GUI app can be just as fast in both C/C++ and Perl. But for very intensive tasks, C/C++ will almost certainly be better, but yes... it just goes to show you aren't limited to the fastest but most complex language.

Well no such thing as resource lacking though I have 1.5GHz, 512MB,20GB configuration. After huge language base of Perl and complexity of Java the C is like a refresher. So little to learn and understand. And after that just stay awake while coding.

Indeed.
If you want complexity, then I would say C++ is a dream for you. The amount of complexity it can amount to in incredible. It can become far more complex than C, even.
But you know, computers, having a lot of resources and all, you can use almost any language you see fit.

Plans?

Well, what are you trying to do? Web? GUI? Games? Etc?

> GTK+ is for C++
GTK+ is a C library. It's for C, C++, Perl, PHP (there are tonnes of bindings)

> I will try to write games using OpenGL+SDL (both C libs).
Yes, but C++ is a superset of C. You should be able to use most C libs with C++. Not to mention there are many bindings of OpenGL & SDL to other langauges.

I've done everything in your list before, all in C. Some things I longed for C++, or perl -- sometimes even PHP. I like Java, although I don't love it. Choose the language for the job, not one language for all jobs. You don't build a house with just a hammer do you?