Re: [dev] [sbase][PATCH] Add factor(1)

From: Anselm R Garbe <garbeam_AT_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2016 09:18:20 +0100

On 26 February 2016 at 09:01, Mattias Andrée <maandree_AT_kth.se> wrote:
> Performance is not really something suckless
> concerns itself about. They favour solutions
> that are simpler to implement and maintain
> but asymptotically slower. But in the case of

I have to object here. It is correct that performance is not the
primary concern of suckless, but that does not mean that suckless
doesn't care for performance considerations or would accept slow
software algorithms.

Actually the truth is often the opposite, simple solutions often prove
to be faster(!) than their complex counterparts, because intensely
smart but complex implementations often just catch up the
computational waste of the complexity itself in the first place.

Looking at dwm vs gnome is a good starting point. The latter one has
fewer window management capabilities, but consists of a software stack
that is probably by a factor of 1000 more complex in terms of LOC and
hence a lot slower (just talking about the window management of
Gnome).

Of course the discussion about numeric algorithms is a bit different,
though still a simple implementation should not imply bad performance.
If you believe so, then someone must have misguided you quite a bit.

-Anselm
Received on Fri Feb 26 2016 - 09:18:20 CET