D vs C++ - Where are the benchmarks?

monarch_dodra monarchdodra at gmail.com
Sun Jun 30 14:35:00 PDT 2013


On Sunday, 30 June 2013 at 21:06:37 UTC, Gabi wrote:
> On Sunday, 30 June 2013 at 20:26:38 UTC, Joakim wrote:
>> On Sunday, 30 June 2013 at 20:05:16 UTC, Joakim wrote:
>>> On Sunday, 30 June 2013 at 19:48:45 UTC, Gabi wrote:
>>>> Are there any good comparisons out there ?
>>> Not that I know of, but then I'm not looking to justify the 
>>> use of D anymore. ;)
>> When I just googled for "d programming language benchmark," 
>> this post was two clicks from the first page of search results:
>>
>> http://attractivechaos.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/my-programming-language-benchmark-analyses/
>
> Thanks for that. Unfortunately it doesn't contain dmd 
> benchmarks which I most interested in because our main platform 
> is windows.

Let's just say "comparable": sometimes you'll get better, 
sometimes you'll get less. You have to keep in mind benchmarks 
are "synthetic", meaning they won't give you a good "real world 
view" of what you'll get in the end. Worst case scenario, D links 
with C and C++, so if you have some really nice "hand carved" C 
or C++ code, you can just link it in "as-is" (disclaimer, a bit 
complicated)

If you guys are already doing C++, then the shift should be 
relatively easy. The final experience with D (IMO) is that it is 
much simpler, much more enjoyable, and faster to develop. The 
drawbacks is that it is still buggy, not so stable (a bit of 
breakage every version, nothing major, but it's there). Another 
"problem" is that the "design patterns" for D are still being 
researched, and today's recommendation might be tomorrow's 
no-no...

I think the bottom line is that raw performance should not be 
your primary concern. As Marshall Cline states in his "big 
picture issues": "Choosing a language is a *business* decision". 
Evaluate the time/money you and your team will lose learning D, 
making the shift and maintaining code against a changing 
standard, then weight that against the time/money you'll gain 
using a higher level language like D. Once you've evaluated that, 
benchmark.


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