Re: Compile speed: Pascal(Delphi) vs C++

Marco van de Voort wrote:


>> In Pascal, when you import a unit's interface, it can be imported
>> just as a straight binary dump of the symbol table.
>
> Yes, but you have the burden of automake (automatically remake if
> files changed), so you have to check if all source files (.pas and
> .inc) and dependant units are in sync.


The difference is that, for a typical Windows program, you have to
recompile approximately five megabytes of header files
IIRC. (Stripping out comments and whitespace leaves you with a few
100K of relevant information, which still means a lot of symbol table
building.)


Having to remake a few files occasionally is still a clear win.


> The fact that typical (Borland) Pascal compilers compile a whole
> string of units in one go helps though. The dependant units are often
> already loaded into mem.


If that were the case, precompiled headers would close the gap from
standard C++ usage to Turbo Pascal. In practice, Turbo Pascal still
blows the socks off C++ (well, compiling several thousand lines of
code in fractions of a second on a '486 is really hard to beat).


Regards,
Jo

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