I wanna know just HOW fast is C. Is it the fastest language? how fast is it really? Can it be faster. forgive if its a silly question, but is it as fast as your machine will allow it or are there limitations?
Also, when C was first created, what language was used to do so. Obviously you can create C from C but does anyone know. Pascal, BCPL??? ADA??? just really curious cause its been plaguing me.
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The C Library Reference Guide
Understand the fundamentals
Then have some more fun
Define "fastest."
If you mean shortest execution time, I think you'll find that for
most programs you write, if you compile it to machine code it's
going to run comparably under most languages. If the program
is being interpreted by another program, odds are it's going to be
much slower than a compiled version of the same program.
For example, a loop that counts from 1 to 10 compiled for the
same architecture in FORTRAN, Ada, Pascal or C is likely going to
contain pretty much the same instructions no matter what you do.
One area in which you get differences are the libraries used to
do common things, like input/output. Maybe C's standard library
is faster than the Pascal library, or maybe they're actually referencing
much the same library/kernel code. It's kind of hard to tell,
generically.
C is fast because it has little overhead, unlike C++ or other OOP
languages (cen be) where there's lookups being done to figure out who's doing what to whom.
Hopefully this gives you a little more insight into your issue.
it actually does. Thanks a lot. I appreaciate it.
Warning: Opinions subject to change without notice
The C Library Reference Guide
Understand the fundamentals
Then have some more fun
