Comments for How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

Comment from Jim de Graff on 2010-04-09

2010-04-10T03:42:47Z

Program design can greatly affect performance. My first major progrm for a company I worked at for 29 years was written in PL/1. It ran on an IBM mainframe and was a complete rewrite of a program originally created by my predecessor to verify database definition files for a hierarchichal database. His version used many temporary disk files and cost over $20 per run. My version used linked lists instead of temporary files. The cost per run of my version was 18 cents. Outwardly there was little difference between the two programs.

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A comment on: How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

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Comment from Chris on 2009-08-06

2009-08-06T20:41:14Z

As a 67 yr old pc user from about 1986 this article explains things I have been wondering about for years. Thanks Leo - you deserve a latte (again)
Chris
ps I have no idea what a coffee costs in the US - with the exchange rates as they are I will have to guess

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A comment on: How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from Catmoves on 2009-07-29

2009-07-29T14:22:13Z

Yes, Steve Gibson writes in assembly. And so do his staff. And their programs are small, and fast, and great. No bloat.
My feeling is that many software companies become so enamored of the "sell, sell , sell" attitude that they constantly add bells and whistles to their software until it becomes unwieldy and unwanted. Especially when there are free versions of the same type available, that don't need to bloat their product. Sometmes they decide to follow me around the internet. They don't even have the courtesy to ask my permission. But I guess thats why I have a recycle bin.
Bloat is why I no longer use Symantec. In fact, it is why I no longer use many programs from old established companies. Tough luck companies, but it is my dough, you know.

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A comment on: How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

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Comment from Michael Horowitz on 2009-07-28

2009-07-29T02:33:56Z

There is still another possibility: inclusion of other programs as part of a software "suite". Anti-malware software may be bundled with other things such as a firewall, anti-spam software, etc. The vendor may have one large package and depending on which parts you buy only those parts are activated.

I saw this with the free ZoneAlarm firewall, which used to be very small. But, at one point the size of the downloaded EXE grew enormously. I can only surmise that it includes anti-malware software too, even though that code is disabled in the free version of ZoneAlarm.

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A comment on: How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

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Comment from Hugh on 2009-07-28

2009-07-28T15:42:23Z

compiling can make a huge difference in the end product... ? i.e. GCC -G linux of course but there is a cygwin equivalent.

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A comment on: How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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Comment from John Williams on 2009-07-28

2009-07-28T15:41:16Z

Good article and something I often wondered. I read on www.grc.com that steve Gibson always writes in assembly language

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A comment on: How can two programs that are nearly identical be so different in size and speed?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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