[Haskell-cafe] Batteries included (Was: GHC is a monopoly compiler)

[Richard A. O'Keefe]

On 30/09/16 3:43 AM, Heinrich Apfelmus wrote:

> Also, it's not like other languages all agree on their preferred method
> of representing strings: NULL-terminated (C) vs "length-byte-first"
> (Pascal) comes to mind.

Just in support of that claim, Java *changed* its implementation
of strings.  Originally,
    someString.substr(beginIndex, endIndex)
took O(1) time and space whatever the values of
someString, beginIndex, and endIndex.
These days it takes O(endIndex - beginIndex) time and space.

And yes, that DID mean that the performance characteristics of many
Java programs changed without their authors knowing or intending it.