On Wed, 3 Feb 2010, Joe Shisei Niski wrote: > Date: Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:12:49 -0800 > From: Joe Shisei Niski <joeni...@easystreet.net> > To: "General Linux/UNIX discussion and help; civil and on-topic" > <plug@lists.pdxlinux.org> > Subject: Re: [PLUG] Facebook & PHP - massive speedup > > Lovely clear explanation, Carlos. The only thing i'd add is the > relatively recent addition of support for typically interpreted > languages (e.g., Python, Ruby) on both the Java Virtual Machine and the > .NET Common Language Runtime. This approach is a great middle ground > that provides the usability/development efficiency of higher-level > "scripting" languages with the performance of bytecode compilation and > the safety/security/sandboxing (somewhat debatable but generally better > than the default interpreters) of the JVM and CLR. In larger > enterprises, this approach also allows standard deployment and > management (i.e. as .NET or Java EE applications) on existing server > infrastructure - the operations teams don't need to deal with another > platform, even though the application code is written in JRuby or Iron > Python. > > Given that CPU cycles are far cheaper than developers and operations > staff, the productivity/performance tradeoff of higher-level languages > is a no-brainer for most businesses. > > BTW, your initial remark, "don't engineer your software better, instead > make your crap execute faster. Oracle might be interested in this," had > me laughing out loud. > > Joe
I haven't paid much attention to jython and clojure. But your argument is a compelling one. It lets a free spirit like me use the language I like without giving the pointy-haired boss having much reason to complain about it. Python has its delights for a programmer, and ruby too, and it would be nice to see them run fast. Lisp already compiles to machine code if you use SBCL or CMUCL, so there's no performance gain to be had. But the ability to deploy it like a java app is good for the server admin. I should have thought of this at my last job, where I deployed lisp code on a custom-built gentoo box. That did not make me any friends. Carlos _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
