Very nice example. I'll test on ubuntu later. On windows ... D:\diamond\diamond\diamond\Release>diamond 1> nul brad: time: 19544[ms] printDiamond1: time: 1139[ms] printDiamond2: time: 1656[ms] printDiamond3: time: 663[ms] jay1: time: 455[ms] sergei: time: 11673[ms] jay2: time: 411[ms] diamondShape: time: 4399[ms] printDiamond: time: 185[ms]