Is "performant" a valid word? What's the alternative?

Question

Given that performant isn't officially a real word, what is an appropriate alternative term for expressing "something that performs well"? So, instead of saying something like,

This iteration of the SQL query is particularly performant.

What would you say instead?

Or how about:

We're going to go with the most performant, yet ugly, code.

Or this:

Then there's V8, a particularly perfomant new Javascript engine.

To me, saying well-performing instead of performant feels ugly, inelegant and inefficient. Stylistically, and subjectively, I prefer the look and sound of performant.

So, should we just go ahead and use the word? After all, the beauty of the English language is that it is not set in stone and does indeed evolve at a fairly rapid pace.

I realise this question may not be strictly about programming, but I've only ever heard the term used by programmers or technical writers in a technical context. So I wanted to hear the perspective of a programming community, rather than a language community. I also thought it might be a decent experiment to ask this sort of question during the beta period.

Note, I personally voted-up some of the better counter-arguments, even though I agree with the argument of @harpo, whose answer I accepted. I think it's important for people to vote-up thoughtful, well reasoned answers, rather than just up-voting opinions they agree with, and down-voting opinions they disagree with.

Update: Stephen Fry has published a podcast discussing language and the use of new words: Stephen Fry's Podgrams Series 2 Episode 3, Language Interesting to anyone with an interest in this sort of thing.

Answer 1

This iteration of the SQL query performs particularly well.

Answer 2

well performing? Or just make it active:

This iteration of the SQL Query performs particularly well.

Answer 3

What's wrong with saying 'This iteration of the SQL query performs particularly well'? It's almost the same number of characters anyway.

Answer 4

"Performant" is a "real" word — we all know what it means.

Remember that the dictionary is a retroactive record of how words are used, meaning that words become words before they make it there. Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, they describe how words are used; they do not prescribe how words should be used.

I might add that comprehensive dictionaries of English have existed for less than 150 or so years, and that "performant" will appear in a future one.

Update: By the way, "performant" is just a French formation of "performing." It came about through inflection, as new forms often come about, when the desire arose for a single adjective equivalent to "well-performing."

Answer 5

It's on Wiktionary, so it must be true.

Answer 6

So my next question is, why on earth is this question getting voted down? Seems like a perfectly reasonable question related to programming. I've often come across this word in the programming context and wanted to have a) a discussion with other coders about it, and b) a definitive answer on whether it's considered OK to use.

What's wrong with that?

Edit: Is it the grammar English language snobs? Is there a strong correlation between grammar English language snobs and programmers? ;-)

BTW, regarding language snobbery, I'm with Stephen Fry:

It is not a case of loving the language so much you want to preserve every hair on its lovely little head. The fun comes from watching it change and working out how.

— http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/frys_english.shtml

Answer 7

It'll be an 'official' word soon enough and then all the grammar snobs can unwind the knot in their knickers. In the mean time, since we all know what it means and many of us use it, call it slang-growing-up-to-be-jargon.

(It's like the grammar snobs want English to be a dead, static language only spoken and understood by an elite priesthood.)

Answer 8

performalicious, as in "This iteration of the SQL query is particularly performalicious."

Answer 9

You're not going to earn points with "grammar snobs" by calling them "grammar snobs" when your question has nothing to do with grammar.

Answer 10

To me, the test isn't whether something is a "official" or a "real word", it's all about whether using this word will help me communicate more effectively. However, there's more to communicating effectively than your audience knowing what the word means. To communicate well the word can't distract your audience from the message you're trying to get across. Even if they all know what performant means, it doesn't communicate effectively if they're all thinking, "What's wrong with this bozo? Performance is a perfectly good word, why does he have to go using management-speak like performant?"

Know your audience and choose your words accordingly.

Answer 11

This is more a question of style than anything else.

What is your motivation for using performant over the simpler versions using existing english words? If this is used in marketing spiel then it may be useful in that sounds trendy, although there is a risk that someone may think you are just an incompetent writer.

One thing that annoys me about some technical writers is a lack of variation. It's very easy to fall into the trap of repeatedly using words like performant when they could use many other variations of simpler english which are easier to read.

Words like performant may also confuse non-native speakers of english.

Answer 12

s/performant/well-performing/g

So:

This iteration of the SQL query is particularly well-performing.

Or:

We're going to go with the most well-performing, yet ugly, code.

But this question should be on an message board about grammar and language, not about programming.

Answer 13

What's wrong with “efficient”? In your examples at least, it would be the natural choice and technically perfect. Although I might imagine cases that perform well but not efficiently. In those cases I'd probably stress how they perform well, e.g. using “robust”.

I'm surprised nobody has mentionend that yet. Whether or not “performant” is considered to be a valid word, it's ugly because it's imprecise.

/EDIT: I've just read the examples listed in the Wiktionary article on “performant” and I'm really appalled. Or rather, I'm pleased that they've taken so much care to prove my point. In every instance, other words would be more appropriate.

Answer 14

Actually, I believe the word you are looking for is "Fast"

This iteration of the SQL query is particularly fast.

We're going to go with the fastest, yet ugly, code

Then there's V8, a particularly fast new Javascript engine.

Answer 15

Graph flow is measured in capacity, not performance. So word is probably "capacity", not performance.

Answer 16

High Performance/ing

Answer 17

The word you are all looking for is: efficient.

Hell, effective might work too.

Let's try: (s/performant/efficient/g)

This iteration of the SQL query is particularly efficient.

We're going to go with the most efficient, yet ugly, code.

Then there's V8, a particularly efficient new Javascript engine.

It's a real word, and it won't tick people off. It also doesn't distract the reader by being particularly harsh sounding.

And in my opinion, "performant" is no more a word than "irregardless".

Answer 18

"Performant" is one of those annoying words like "architected/architecting".

I prefer to say that fast code goes like the clappers, resulting in particularly splendid application responsiveness.

Answer 19

I'm not sure what "performant" means. Does it mean "well-performing", or does it mean "performs its intended function"? I could certainly claim buggy code is non-performant. There's nothing wrong with "well-performing."

On the other hand, if you're writing about a computer algorithm, you should be precise and give the Big-O notation, perhaps with some information on typical cases. Frankly, saying "well-performing" is not precise enough to be very useful.

Answer 20

"Performant" is jargon - terminology specific to an activity, profession, or group. If you want to write to a larger audience, I suggest using a real word.