lua-users home
lua-l archive

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]


Roberto Ierusalimschy <roberto@inf.puc-rio.br> writes:
> When discussing language design, performance is always present. But
> we do not think that, in a scripting language, such as Lua, we should
> consider a change in an API just to avoid an extra conditional or a jump
> misprediction. For LuaJIT, I am sure it will be able to eliminate
> these extra tests in most cases.

A single shift operator is _also_ more confusing from a readability
point of view, and that is important, even for a scripting language.

Many lisps use a single shift operator like that, and having used it
there, I've convinced it is a mistake -- it makes typical code that uses
it harder to understand.

-Miles

-- 
Dictionary, n.  A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of
a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however,
is a most useful work.