On 2000-Mar-16 15:04:00 +1100, Donn Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Basically, gcc is a very good compiler. But, it isn't exactly the
>best compiler to use for optimization. Someone told me that Sun's and
>DEC's compilers, for example, blow away gcc in terms of speed. But,
>they aren't portable.
I think it's very dependent on the target architecture and how popular
that architecture is. Traditionally, the M68K and SPARC families were
the most popular, and gcc generated the best (or equal best) code on
them. The i386 is now a more popular family but, at the high end,
optimisation is restricted by the difficulty of obtaining accurate
documentation.
The Alpha is a very difficult processor to generate good code for
(and I suspect the IA64 will be worse). DEC (and now Compaq) have
put a lot of effort into tweaking their compiler - I don't believe
anything like the same amount of effort has been expended on the
gcc backend (and I wouldn't expect it).
Peter
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