Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!bywater!acheron!archet!wlm From: wlm@archet.UUCP (William L. Moran Jr.) Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme Subject: Re: Parity with conventional programs Message-ID: <304@archet.UUCP> Date: 3 Oct 89 05:49:10 GMT References: <8910020245.AA06270@solaria.mcs.anl.gov> Reply-To: wlm@archet.UUCP (William L. Moran Jr.) Organization: A Desperate and Dedicated Crew Lines: 20 Unfortunately, it is (in general) not true that functional programs are as efficient as procedural programs. This is one of the problems with functional programs - not that they are less efficient than programs written in more common languages - but that the proponents of functional programs try to claim that they are not. The other advantages more than outweigh this, and the difference gets less and less every day (and may well eventually be zero). I would agree that a demonstration that functional programs are as efficient in some areas as other programs is a good idea, but do not oversell - in the short run it may help, but in the long run it will only discourage people. Bill -- arpa: moran-william@cs.yale.edu or wlm@ibm.com uucp: uunet!bywater!acheron!archet!wlm or decvax!yale!moran-william ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An audience of teen-age boys naturally likes the idea of running around with naked women and doing LSD while listening to Hendrix and The Who. The Wall Street Journal 8/17/89