System Feature
	perf

Purpose
	Performance considerations

Description
	This page explains various performance considerations when writing scripts.

	biterScripting is a data processor. It is designed to process large amounts of data. A simple 10 line
	script, depending on its functionality, can process giga bytes of data in just one run.

	When you are interactively typing and executing commands one by one, performance is not an issue. However,
	when you are executing scripts in loops for a large number of times, performance does become an important
	consideration.

Command Execution
	In interactive mode, all commands are always executed in the background. This is done because biterScripting
	often processes a very large amount of data and it wants to allow you to be able to use your computer for other
	things while biterScripting is executing commands.

	In non-interactive mode (batch) mode, all commands are executed in the foreground. Thus, batch mode is
	faster. The execution speed will depend on the priority you (or your operating system) assign to the
	biterScripting executable when you invoke it.

Stream Redirection
	The ultimate destination for any stream for any command can be any of the following.

	screen	This is the default.
	remote file	Specified with >, >> or <
	local file	Specified with >, >> or <
	variable (type str)	Specified with >, >> or <

	In addition, inline commands can also be used in redirection, but that ultimately results in
	one of the above ultimate destinations.

	SCREEN IS THE SLOWEST. Performance degrades significantly when a large amount of data is written to screen.
	Further, depending on your operating system, performance worsens after a large amount of data has accumulated
	on screen, irrespective of the size of the data being written to screen by the current command. (This is not
	biterScripting's behavior, this is the operating system's behavior. ) As a result, WRITE ONLY THAT DATA TO SCREEN
	THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO VIEW. Write any interim data to other destinations.

	Remote files are better than screen, but slower than other destinations. Use remote files only for data that
	you need from one computer to another. For data you need only on one computer, use local files or variables.

	Local files are better than remote files, but slower than variables. Use local files only for data that you
	need from one session to next.

	VARIABLES ARE THE FASTEST. For data you will only need within the one session of biterScripting, use
	string (str) variables. In general, use variables instead of any other destinations whenever possible. (There is no
	limit on the size of data in a string variable.)

See Also
batch