Is C++ fast?
What a terrible article.<p>It starts with the comparison of a general-purpose hash table with specifically-tailored one.<p>Then it throws in a switch from a comparison-based sort to a radix-based one.<p>Then, the stunning discovery that std::vector value-initialises its elements (fixable with 3 lines of a custom allocator, if you don't want that behaviour).<p>In the middle, it preaches about portability while at the same time advocating the use of __builtin functions vs standard functions, and type-punning floats to int and back (undefined behaviour in C++).<p>And all of this for a 572ms -> 320ms performance improvement?