Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesTerm
How do you define processing? Any language can do simple tasks like data transfer with simple logic instructions... but its another thing where you really process the data that requires inner loops (e.g. 3d rendering, Audio/Video effects processing). With c++ you can use inline assembly and use intrinsics that explicitly choose what assembly instructions to use. You can for example do prefetching to ensure the P and V pipes are always full in an inner loop. Back in the eary 2000-2004ish... we also had to be responsible for scheduling instructions to ensure that we didn't get penalized for branch predictions failing, or put two divides too closely together by squeezing in some lightweight instructions like 'and', 'or', or even adds, or ensure we cycled through each mmx/sse instruction register (it was crazy). Around 2005-2008 Visual Studio mastered the intrinsics to have a competitive optimization of the instruction scheduling. Furthermore you can do things like this http://www.jaist.ac.jp/iscenter-new/...2_hh/vc235.htm. Really now... when you speak of real processing power, consider what language they used to land the Mars Curiosity Rover.  |
Think of it this way. We have a solid block of data, anywhere between 20 megs to however large your storage is. You do not know what is in this block of data. You need to determine the data type, extract any metadata (date created, who created it, ip addresses, email etc.), create an image of it if you can, and index all of the searchable text.
Now with java you can get that crazy as well, disassemble the byte code, examine your jumps, make your loops tighter etc. I personally have not gone that far but I assure you it is done all the time.
For vision processing, if you have the money, I would use a HDL frontend for speed, then maybe for lower level operations c++ or, one again if you have the money, GLSL (opengl shader language), java for higher level processing and finally for gui I would use either php or perl or bash. As you can tell this setup would require a whole computer, not suitable for FRC but it will work!
As far as the mars rover goes, I have no idea what they used. Do you have a reference? I would like to read it!
Every language has its advantages and disadvantages, there is no need to discount one over the other in a generalized environment. What it really comes down to is the developers experience with the language as well as the system(s) it is being developed for.
Personally my opinion is that the language doesn't matter, what does matter is the communication between the parties involved. If you have something that works well, something YOU can understand, something your COWORKERS can understand, and something that is optimized for your needs.
I will not get into personal gripes about each language. If you want to hear from my personal experiences with languages feel free to message me.