Topic       : The GFA-Basic Compendium
Author      : GFA Systemtechnik GmbH
Version     : GFABasic.HYP v2.98 (12/31/2023)
Subject     : Documentation/Programming
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Index Size  : 28056
HCP-Version : 3
Compiled on : Atari
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@hostname   : STRNGSRV
@hostname   : CAB     
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View Ref-FileIn the 3.0 interpreter, operations involving local and global variables are
executed at the same speed. This is different with compiled programs. An empty
FOR-NEXT loop with 50000 repeats and a four-byte counter variable requires
about 1.315 seconds in the compiler. This is irrespective of whether the
counter variable is a local or a global variable.

Once compiled, the loop with the local variable takes about 0.595 seconds,
while the loop with the global variable needs only about 0.385 seconds.

This speed ratio between local and global variables is different with some
other languages. In C for instance, as a general rule, routines with local
variables are faster than the same routines with global variables.