> I believe the Intel C 5.0 compiler is based on Kai C++, which is hardly new. > Its also $500 per user per system on Linux. The MS Windows version requires > you to already have the MS Visual C++ 6.0 package, as this piggybacks on the > MS C tools. This isn't going to take the open source world by storm... > I doubt that Intel compiler is based on Kai C++. There is support for OpenMP, but this is the only similarity. Also, you can use the compiler without MSVC. If I remember correctly, you have to use XCL.EXE instead of CL.EXE.
This compiler is used in video games, since with a simple compile, you can save more than 10% in speed compared to MSVC ! Also, it's less BUGGY than MSVC which produced bad code in release mode, when using a lot of floating point operations. However, it's not 100% compatible with MSVC (for example, the MSVC debugger has problems with this compiler), so it's mainly used for the release versions of the program. Another compiler is also recommended: Vector C++, which is oriented in matrix optimizations (useful in 3D games). http://www.codeplay.com/ > In any case it is rather doubtful that the compiler could make much > difference to Prime95. The pieces coded in C are of the "run once" > variety rather than being executed in every iteration. > I agree. Using this compiler will only improve the interface, which is written in C++, using MFC. I bet George won't ever write it in ASM ;-) Also, Intel C++ generates a code slightly larger than MSVC++. But the code is really impressive, for example, it computes the probability of the branches. > Actually Microsoft C/C++ (Visual Studio) does a pretty good job of > outputting efficient code - as good as gcc on IA32 hardware. The > only "extra instructions" in PIII which are of significant value for > Prime95 are cache prefetch instructions, which are already > exploited in the existing assembler code. And Prime95's P4 code > already uses SSE2. > MSVC is horrible at its code generation ! GCC is even worse. > > As John points implies, you've got to be pretty committed to shell > out ~$500 per system for the privelege of compiling code on your > own hardware. It would take a _really_ significant speed boost to > make that sort of expenditure worthwhile. > You can have a free trial for 30 days here: http://developer.intel.com/software/products/compilers/ JC _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.ndatech.com/mersenne/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
