Subject: Re: What language would you use?

From: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@mox.perl.com>

Date: 6 Nov 1994 15:14:51 GMT

Newsgroups: comp.lang.python,comp.lang.tcl,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.misc,comp.lang.perl

Message-Id: <39irtb$3t4@csnews.cs.Colorado.EDU>

References: <39b7ha$j9v@zeno.nscf.org> <39hhjp$lgn@csnews.cs.Colorado.EDU> <39hvsu$dus@mathserv.mps.ohio-state.edu>

[...]

If you're really into benchmarks, I'd love it if someone were to code up

the following problems in tcl, python, and scheme (and whatever else you'd

like).  Separate versions (one optimized for speed, one for beauty :-) are

ok.  Post your code so we can time it on our own systems.

0)  Factorial Test  (numerics and function calls)

        (we did this already)

1)  Regular Expressions Test

    Read a file of (extended per egrep) regular expressions (one per line), 

    and apply those to all files whose names are listed on the command line.

    Basically, an 'egrep -f' simulator.  Test it with 20 "vt100" patterns

    against a five /etc/termcap files.  Tests using more elaborate patters

    would also be interesting.  Your code should not break if given hundreds

    of regular expressions or binary files to scan.  

2)  Sorting Test

    Sort an input file that consists of lines like this

        var1=23 other=14 ditto=23 fred=2

    such that each output line is sorted WRT to the number.  Order

    of output lines does not change.  Resolve collisions using the

    variable name.   e.g.

        fred=2 other=14 ditto=23 var1=23 

    Lines may be up to several kilobytes in length and contain

    zillions of variables.

3)  System Test

    Given a list of directories, report any bogus symbolic links contained

    anywhere in those subtrees.  A bogus symbolic link is one that cannot

    be resolved because it points to a nonexistent or otherwise

    unresolvable file.  Do *not* use an external find executable.

    Directories may be very very deep.  Print a warning immediately if the

    system you're running on doesn't support symbolic links.

I'll post perl solutions if people post the others.

--tom

-- 

Tom Christiansen      Perl Consultant, Gamer, Hiker      tchrist@mox.perl.com

 "But Billy! A *small* allowance prepares you for a lifetime of small

 salaries and for your Social Security payments."    --Family Circus