i can't comment on the power and functionality of JAVA but from what i understand the speed of execution is poor

my comment was not directed at the pc vs workstation question it was specifically directed at microsoft's developer studio software product which I (emphasize I) feel is waste of money. now i suppose if you've used this product extensively then you will make it work for you but my experience has been poor. it has a steep learning curve and doesn't speed up my code generation rate relative to writing code on my default unix text editor and compiling with xlf or xlc. moreover it is an expensive product compared to other windows code development tools (especially if you are exclusively a C programmer who can take advantage of the many excellent free compilers available). also i found that multilanguage programming and compiling is difficult.

you stumped me for a while (i'm rusty), try this:

DX(1:N)=X(2:N+1)-X(1:N)

now if i'm not mistaken you can do this in fortran90 (or maybe it fortran95 i'm not sure. but matlabs ability to pick out submatrices greatly expands your ability to take advantage of its vector operations and reduces the need for do loops

if your computers are otherwise similar then i expect that your friends are right and the low increase in specInt is to blame. also it may be that the compiler you use optimises relatively better for the pentium II than the pentium III. remember also that the p3 is not a great advance on the p2. when they first came out the p2 and p3 were offerred at the same clock speed. it was found that the p3 did not offer significantly better performance. the p3's advantage is supposed to come in processing graphics and multimedia applications.

(1). You can always write a couple of benchmark testing programs in a loop or several layers of loop to check the timing on each computer. (2). simple integer math, floating point math, and math functions can be used in the loop to create three benchmark test programs. As long as you include a write statement to the screen at the begining and at the end of the program, you can easily use your watch to time it. You don't need to call any system clock at all. (3). Next time, when you buy a computer, run the same benchmark program before you buy it.

hi... i am not telling about how strong fotran is.let me say something about other languages or other pacageses. C/C++ is much more handy rather yhan fortan,Then why should we use yhe old language fortan.there are lot good pacages like mcad(math cad-plus 6),matlab and other handy pacages.we are having such option open to us ,then why we use fortan.see other advantages are,for a particular function you have to write a function for fortan,c/c++.but if we use our ready made matlab or macd then we able to do something very peacefully.all function(mainly mathematical)is given there.we can use them.

thanking you.

amit

(INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)

KHARAGPUR.

AEROSPACE ENGG(3RD YEAR)

INDIA

18.02.00

hi all friends

From my experience I found FORTRAN faster than all others.. If you are looking for speed just go for FORTRAN..It is not necessary to learn C or C++ this may waste your research time once you know FORTRAN..FORTRAN is not that good in debugging...Friend of mine wrote his code first in QUICK BASIC-easy in debugging- then convert it easily into FORTRAN..I dont agree with those rely on ready made Packages Engineer should be able to make his own program..

This is my opinion..I hope it helps

bye