minor changes

_posts/2024-03-05-what-high-performance-language-to-learn.md

@@ -11,26 +11,26 @@ In the past couple of months, I have been asked several times about what languag
 if someone wants to write high-performance programs.
 This is a sensitive topic that often triggers heated debate
 partly because many fast languages share similar features and are comparable in performance.
-My take is that for small research projects only involving a few developers,
+My general take is that for small research projects only involving a few developers,
 the choice of programming languages is personal.
-Nevertheless, if you hold a gun to head and ask me to choose a single high-performance language,
+Nevertheless, if you hold a gun to head and force me to recommend a single high-performance language,
 I will probably say [Rust][rust].
 Here is my thought.
 
 ### Why not Python or R?
 
 Python and R are the most popular programming lauguages in computational biology.
 However, they are slow unless you can find libraries written in other efficient languages.
-How slow? Often ~50 times slower than a C/C++ implementation.
+How slow? Often [~50 times slower][benchmark] than a C/C++ implementation.
 This means a one-minute task in C/C++ is turned into one hour and
 a one-hour task is turned into two days.
-When you have a new method in mind,
-the inefficiency of Python and R may become an obstacle and limit your stretch.
+When you have a new method with the bottleneck falling in to pure Python/R code,
+the inefficiency of Python/R may limit your stretch.
 
 Another practical problem, at least with Python, is the deployment of your tools.
 To run a Python program, users have to install dependencies on their machines.
 This is slow and sometimes problematic when dependencies of different packages conflictive with each other.
-With C/C++, it is possible, though takes efforts, to compile portable binaries that run on most machines.
+With C/C++, it is possible, though takes efforts, to compile portable binaries that do not require users to install dependencies.
 Properly distributed C/C++ tools are easier to install and use.
 
 ### Why Rust?
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ Rust is a mature memory-safe programming language with little/no compromise on p
 It is as efficient as C/C++ and almost free of memory-related errors.
 Unlike C/C++, Rust comes with its own package manager, which greatly simplifies the reuse of existing libraries;
 Rust also makes it easy to create portable executables, improving user experiences.
-It has been used [for Linux kernel development][linux-rust] and endorsed [by Google][google-rust], [by the CTO of Microsoft Azure][ms-rust] and
+Rust has been used [for Linux kernel development][linux-rust] and endorsed [by Google][google-rust], [by the CTO of Microsoft Azure][ms-rust] and
 surprisingly, even [by White House][white-house].
 You can easily find articles on the Internet about how good Rust is.
 I will save some words here.
@@ -53,15 +53,16 @@ Furthermore, the Rust memory model brings new concepts that are rarely seen in o
 I have written five short programs in Rust but I am still at the bottom of the learning curve.
 
 Nevertheless, I want to note that mastering C from scratch might not be easier.
-Although C looks much simpler, getting the best out of C without frequent [segmentation fault][segfault] may take years of practice.
+Although C looks simpler, getting the best out of C without frequent [segmentation fault][segfault] may take years of practice.
 Modern C++ is a very different language from C.
 It is a behemoth with a myriad of modern features and decades of legacy packed in one of the most complex languages.
-Mastering C++ probably takes more efforts.
+Mastering the entire C++ means mastering C and the C++ specific features.
+That is a lot of work.
 
 ### Other contenders
 
 Rust is not the only language that matches the performance of C/C++ without memory-related bugs.
-If you do not need the best performance and feel Rust is difficult to learn, Go may be a decent second choice.
+If you do not need the best possible performance and feel Rust is difficult to learn, Go may be a decent second choice.
 As to other high-performance languages, some have not reached the v1.0 milestone and are not stable;
 some have a small community, which will make learning harder;
 some, in my humble opinion, are not designed well;
@@ -81,3 +82,4 @@ I enjoy the freedom of [shooting myself in the foot][shoot].
 [rust-dlist]: https://rust-unofficial.github.io/too-many-lists/
 [segfault]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmentation_fault
 [shoot]: https://www.stroustrup.com/quotes.html
+[benchmark]: https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/fastest/python3-gcc.html