Slow LC 9 Performance - Test Stack, Video, QA Report

[Curry Kenworthy]

Mark:

 > For appending 5 item texts, I see a 3x slowdown in LC9,
 > similar to your results.

Thanks for sharing your Linux results!

So that means on 3 different platforms (Mac, Win, Linux) using item 
chunks is 3x to 4x slower in LiveCode today than it was 2 years ago, for 
a short list of items.

(And I just realized that some Mac people may have misunderstood that 
all this was just another Mac/Win type comparison, so I'll state it 
again clearly from a Mac-centric perspective.)

LC on Mac today is 3 times slower than it was two years ago for arrays 
and items, and 2 times slower for math! At least on my Mac, assuming it 
holds true for your chip too. So we are all in this performance boat 
together, no matter your OS preference. You're affected.

Moreover (as I demo'd in the video) using item chunks is slower in 
LiveCode today than using an array was 2 years ago! The old speed of 
items blew it away. That may surprise some of the people thinking 
they'll just use items; the ultra-fast option doesn't exist anymore.

I'm very happy that arrays already are on LC's official radar, because 
they are extremely important and they are currently 2x-3x slower. That 
will help. Probably noticed, and on the radar, because Mac was 
disproportionately affected! Mac Mac Mac. :)

But attention Mac people: Mac is every bit as affected (3.3x slower than 
before) by those slower chunks for a small list of items. (Big lists 
too, on Mac AFAIK.) So fixing arrays is only part of the solution. Items 
are pretty important too, especially when they are being emphasized as a 
route for optimizing code. Math and loops help too.

 > Append 345678 Items texts (of 1280):
 > LC6.7.11 (32-bit):  4894 ms
 > LC9.01rc3 (64-bit): 3271 ms

Nice to know that bright spot for Linux on the bigger lists and 64-bits! 
Mac and Windows performance both got 1.7 times worse on those, at least 
on my machines. I appreciate you testing it.

Best wishes,

Curry K.