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rhymiz
4y

Most people who talk about language performance are just repeating what they heard from others.

For 98% of use cases, Python or Ruby, for example, are more than fine for running production systems at scale.

Also, a language does not necessarily guarantee speed/performance if you write shit code.

I've seen a properly written Python application perform better than a Java application.

I'd love to stop having this debate with folks every time.

Comments
  • 1
    No. And python vs Java is not the problem we are talking about.

    Both are bullshit in production but one was better (as in safee) than the rest back in the days.
  • 3
    Comparing languages with different running processes is pointless I'm afraid.

    Python is translated on the fly and java requires a whole runtime environment.

    It just doesn't really work.
  • 0
    @nitwhiz @stonestorm I'm strictly speaking to people who throw the word "performance" around very loosely, not considering other factors, such as actually understanding the language well enough to write performant code.

    As much as I love Python, I do appreciate the type safety I get when I write Java or Dart.

    To be clear, I'm not against Java, just in case the rant is perceived that way. I believe in choosing the best tool for the job at hand and solving problems for the immediate future.
  • 1
    I wholeheartedly agree. I'm just having a conversation with someone claiming we should switch to Go "because it's faster". Nevermind the fact that neither of us has any experience with Go or its ecosystem. He just wants to switch blindly.
  • 2
    Worked with a guy that would only write async functions in C# because of the performance gain, which he could never quantify. After he'd been there about 6 months we had a large architecture discussion and he brought that up again. We had about 5 people jump down his throat because the gains were minimal and really only helped if the rest of the code was written properly
  • 0
    @coder-guy ha! turns out that a lot of people who talk about performance don't actually know what it means to build performant systems
  • 1
    If you guys gonna start the Holy Language War soon just tip me I'll bring popcorn. Best thing to enjoy on every platform with developers.
  • 1
    @RikaroDev nah, I don't think there is such a thing as the best language.

    Each language has its strengths and weaknesses.

    This debate is not about which language is better. It's about folks not understanding the fundamentals of performance and assuming that because you picked a language that is faster than another, that you are guaranteed that performance.

    Implementation detail is still a factor.
  • 1
    @rhymiz You're right, and you're sane.
    Killed mah fun :P
  • 0
    @RikaroDev my bad 🤣
  • 1
    Agreed.
  • 1
    @coder-guy its even more fun if you explain to him that async calls are significantly slower than regular calls and should only be used for timeconsuming i/o to avoid blocking the calling thread. (async abuse is a pretty easy way to ruin overall performance)
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