C vs. FORTRAN

[mcdonald at uxe.cso.uiuc.edu]

>The odds are pretty good that somebody asking about relative code
>efficiency is worrying about the wrong issues in choosing a
>programming language.

I don't understand this statement! Somebody serious about relative
code efficiency (and mentioning Fortran) probably has a big program.
They may be worried that it would cost $20000 of cpu time in
one language instead of $40000 in another. This isn't important?
OR they might be worried that one would take 300 microseconds to
process a piece of incoming data, and another language might take
600 microseconds, and the data is expected to arrive at 400 microsecond
intervals.

If efficiency matters at all then it usually is the MOST important issue.
Sometimes it is even more important than getting the "right" answer (!),
as in using a some math function (say sin(x)) that is only good to three
significant digits, just to be faster, rather than in using a slower
but more accurate routine..

Doug McDonald