Re: what kind of computer for programmer ?

On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:27:50 -0500, Rob Thorpe wrote
> It's worth mentioning that the main reason most peoples compiles are
> slow is because they haven't thought about building.

Or, they simply are doing it on old hardware. A "fast" PC is
now around $500. A "smoking fast" PC is around $1000. If your
time is worth anything at all, either of those pays for itself
VERY quickly if you spend a lot of time in front of a compiler.

If you have a super-sized project that really takes a long time
to build, bump that up to around $2000 and you can literally
make the problem go away.

> To make them fast:-
>
> * Find the fastest compiler switches you can use. It's normal to have
> debug and release build, but you can have a third one, say "fast".

If you think you need a special "fast build", then you probably
have bigger problems.

> * Clean out spurious dependencies, a useful thing to do anyway

True.

> In C or C++
> * Split up "kitchen-sink" include files, again useful anyway

Even the big header files, like those in class libraries compile
almost instantly on modern hardware. The days of leisurely
watching the compiler progress one message at a time are long
gone. (I have heard rumors that .NET compiles can seem that
way, but I haven't tried it since C# was in beta).

> * Use caching pre-compiled headers if available

and hope it doesn't cause more problems than its worth.

> * Use --pipe if you're using gcc

Yes.

> * If you're really keen use compilercache

Which is mostly smoke and mirrors, as a machine with a lot of
ram and a decent file system does much of this automatically.
Again, any benefit you do receive is only for compiler, not for
your overall system.

> ... AND get fast hardware.

This should have been step 1, then most (or all) of the above
would not have even been necessary for 95% or more of the
projects out there.


.

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