Re: [OT] On `ad hominem' - OS X users

John W Kennedy <jwkenne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Sherm Pendley wrote:
It's a fact that modern compilers *usually* generate faster code than
hand-coded assembler. If this library is an exception to that general
rule, why can't you just say so without being a condescending ass
about it?

While this is true, it applies only to things that the language can
express. Most processors have special tricks for multi-word arithmetic
(such as the Intel ADC instruction or the new z/Architecture ALC
family of instructions) that cannot be expressed at all in, say,
C. (That is, C has no way of saying, "Add X to Y, and add an
additional 1 if the last addition set the CPU carry flag.")

Okay, that makes perfect sense. As I said before, I'm not a math geek
and I've never used Math::Pari directly - I had no idea that it was an
arbitrary-precision math library and I've never looked under its
hood.

I've used similar techniques in the past, though, working with 32-bit
ints and 16.16-bit fixed point math on 8- and 16-bit CPUs. That's one
reason I find Ilya's condescension especially annoying; My assembler
is a little rusty, and haven't reviewed the code in Pari, but neither
of those things makes me a moron.

sherm--

--
My blog: http://shermspace.blogspot.com
Cocoa programming in Perl: http://camelbones.sourceforge.net
.