speed, etc.

[Alan Hutchinson]

> Haskell is the bazaar.
> I believe it to be the precursor of a better FP language.  

Some of us want that language now.  Clean is a good candidate,
and that is why I have opted for it.

As to speed:
Those who hesitate to jump into Clean code because their projects
might not be viable in a language whose compiled code runs at the
current speed of Clean might ponder whether they would have started
the project five years ago in any language.  What with the speedup of
hardware, I dare say Clean now runs as fast as ANY compiled language
did then.  In another few years, Clean will run as fast on Merced
chips or whatever as C does now.

Computer science has various goals.  One is speed.  Another is 
reliability: bug-free code.  A third is ease and speed of coding.
FP is not intended to help write the ultimate fast graphics routines,
though perhaps it may be suitable for even that in some circumstances.
It is good because it helps people like me write succinct code that
I can understand and prove correct with minimal effort.

Alan Hutchinson
King's College London