[Shootout-list] Many tests cheat

[Tomasz Zielonka]

On Wed, Nov 03, 2004 at 07:34:20PM +1100, skaller wrote:
> > But we don't want functional arrays in the tests and the languages
> > provide ways to use non-functional arrays, so what is the point. 
> 
> The point is that when you say 'measures array access'
> I am saying the specification is unclear what an array
> actually is. In general, that requires random O(1) read/write
> access which cannot be provided in general in an FPL.

In general, maybe... but shoutout is not measuring FPLs in general, only
concrete implementations. Why can't I use mutable O(1) read/write arrays
in GHC? It provides them!

> But in general, a suitable test must fail pure FPLs
> because they can't provide arrays. [I mean,
> there really *should* be one test which knocks
> FPLs hard]

That's against the facts. Haskell compilers provide mutable arrays in a
way that doesn't break referential transparency. Maybe that's against
your definition of a pure FPL, but who said we are measuring pure FPLs?
We are measuring ghc, nhc, hugs, etc...

Best regards,
Tom

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