[Haskell-cafe] Can Haskell outperform C++?

[Ryan Newton]

>
> The unconditional desire for maximum possible object code
> performance is usually very stupid, not to mention impossible to reach
> with any high level language and any multi-tasking operating system.
>

Definitely.  I don't know if we have a catchy term for "kneejerk
optimization" or if it falls under the broader umbrella of "premature
optimization" [including misdirected or unneeded optimization].

I do think we have the opposite problem, however, in much Haskell code --
people are using the clean, obviously correct, but inefficient code even in
standard library functions that really should be optimized like crazy!


>  Haskell's average penalty compared to C is
> no reason to write the entire application in C.


Yes, this seems to be a separate disease.  Not just using low-level langs,
per se, but using them for *everything*.  I have worked at places in
industry where teams automatically use C++ for everything.  For example,
they use it for building all complete GUI applications, which surprises me
a little bit.  I would have thought in recent years that almost everyone
was using *something* else (Java,Python, whatever) to do much of the
performance-non-critical portions of their application logic.

  -Ryan
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