This bears repeating; I don't see a future in loops that 'magically' know whether or not they can be parallelized.
Just to be absolutely clear: Definitely has a future: A loop which is definitely parallelizable, but where either hotspot or the compiler (to be honest, sounds like a job for hotspot to me, and thus scala is absolutely no help here beyond making it simpler to write parallelizable code in the first place) ends up deciding that its faster to just sequentially run it, probably because there's a tiny number of loops. I don't think this has a future: A loop where the compiler or hotspot (this sounds more like compiler territory to me) determines 'somehow' that this loop does not in fact rely on sequential processing, and thus gets the same treatment as above (i.e. parallized unless there's no point). In other words, a single looping construct which can be used BOTH for operations where the code depends on sequentiality, AND for operations where you don't, and that the mere act of making the code non-sequential-dependent 'magically' ends up rewriting the whole thing down at the metal level (post compile and hotspot) as a parallelized operation. Why? Well, think about it. This means that one tiny, seemingly innocuous change to some code, which so happens to either (A) actually be dependent on sequential processing, or (B) merely looks (to the compiler / hotspot) like it is, ends up completely rewriting the processing nature and especially speed _orders of magnitude_. I don't know about you, but a language with that feature sucks in my book. Java may overdo the 'too much magic is bad' concept, but there IS such a thing as 'too much magic', and that would be it. I want a language where its easy to write 'run this in parallel, unless you determine its more efficient not to, and _TELL ME_ about problems in my code if it is processed in parallel'. Scala is admittedly a bit closer to this than java, but its not really the focus of that language. Also, Project Lambda will bring broadly the same benefits to java. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
