Some proposals for improving the efficiency of Algol 60 – Strachey and Wilkes

dl.acm.org

2 pointsfanf213 comments

> An example of unnecessary generality is provided by the requirement that all procedures should be recursive. In ordinary computing -as distinct from symbol manipulation- it will be found that the need for procedures to be recursive is the exception rather than the rule, and the requirement that all procedures should be recursive leads to inefficiency, since a recursive procedure is both longer and slower than a nonrecursive one.

I wonder which things we currently optimise in the name of smaller and faster will seem as quaint six decades hence?

gates, governments, genera(tor/l(itie))s, things that start with g

gsf accounts? maybe even gruncheons? https://english.lem.pl/works/novels/the-cyberiad/146-how-the...

EDIT: 在朝非常, 在野平常

(I get three very different reverse translations of the above from three different engines, so in case it helps I had been attempting to riff on emergency exits vs calm hearts. originally inspired by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42851495)

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