Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:11225 comp.lang.fortran:898
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!sri-unix!garth!walter
From: walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: Mathematical expression syntax (was: C vs. Fortran)
Message-ID: <895@garth.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jul 88 04:40:57 GMT
References: <20506@beta.lanl.gov> <559@lanl.gov> <20509@beta.lanl.gov> <30165@cca.CCA.COM> <77@obie.UUCP>
Reply-To: walter@garth.UUCP (Walter Bays)
Organization: INTERGRAPH (APD) -- Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 26

In article <77@obie.UUCP> wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) writes:
>> ...........................................  The arithmetic IF is
>> obsolete and is only maintained for backwards compatibility.  I don't
>> know anyone who uses it for new code.
>
> I do.  ...  A friend was working on a CPU simulator My friend used
> arithmetic if statements in that program; he even used (gasp!) computed
> gotos.  The final run times were on the order of 3:1 - 4:1.  [As
> opposed to 12:1 to 20:1 projected otherwise on a VAX-11/780 with FPA.]
> Was it worth it?  He thought so, I thought so.  You decide.

I think not.  Keep the clearer, more maintainable code.  Take one
year's maintenance on the 780 and buy a new workstation to replace it.
(It doesn't even have to be ours, though of course that's preferable
:-)  Then you get run times better than 3:1, and continue saving on
both hardare and software maintenance.

You may ask, "Didn't I ever write tricky code for speed when
constrained to a particular hardware base?"  Of course.  "Did I ever
write tricky code for speed when there was no compelling reason to?"
Yes.  I admit it.  It's addictive.
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My opinions are my own.  Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
E-Mail route: ...!pyramid!garth!walter		(415) 852-2384
USPS: Intergraph APD, 2400 Geng Road, Palo Alto, California 94303
------------------------------------------------------------------------------