Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
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From: aland@servio.slc.com (Alan Darlington)
Subject: Re: Smalltalk Arithmetic Speed vs other languages
Message-ID: <1995Jul3.210756.26844@slc.com>
Sender: news@slc.com (USENET News)
Nntp-Posting-Host: servio
Organization: GemStone Systems, Inc., Beaverton OR, USA
References: <DAzt3x.BxF.0.bloor@torfree.net>
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 21:07:56 GMT
Lines: 34

bb978@torfree.net (Charlene Ng) writes:

>    Our company is thinking of using Smalltalk to implement a 
> trader application.  The main functions of the application
> is to be able to calculate financial formulas (e.g. bond
> calculator, mortgage maturity date).  The response time
> has to be fast (preferrably under one second).
> 
>     My question is: Is Smalltalk suitable for such a task? 
<snip>

At a previous employer, I worked on a portfolio management
system (originally intended to be a trader application) that
was written in Smalltalk.  While initially a bond and short-
term securities product, we later added mortgages, CMOs,
GICs, etc.

We had to do a lot of work to get performance to an adequate
level for mortgages (predicting factors) and GICs (for which
no formula would do - we had to calculate interest, etc., on
a day-by-day basis).  Our transaction window recalculated all
numbers (yields, term-to-maturity, etc.) whenever you changed
any data, so we had to do them fast to avoid irritating our
customers.  Even with the complex securities, we managed to
keep this time down to one or two seconds on a 66MH 486.

Given the speed of machines these days (particularly if you
plan to user workstations), I doubt you would have much of
a problem meeting your goals.

  Good luck!
  Alan


