🚀 go-pugleaf

cmh@eng.cam.ac.uk (C.M. Hicks) writes:
>DSP chips are designed to be fast, and to slow them down with compiled code
>seems daft, particularly in real-time applications. 

Wow, you must work for a DSP chip maker.  Most DSP makers seem to be clueless
about how to write software.  Or maybe you have been brainwashed by the 
hardware makers (I don't mean this personally....I'm just tired of the
idea that assembly language is necessary.)

On most reasonable processors, people have found that the compilers write
better code than humans do.  Compilers can do a much better job of global
register allocation, scheduling, and all the other things that make for
good translations.  This is especially true of today's RISC machines (DEC,
IBM, HP, Sun, Cray, MIPS). For a good exposition of the power of a compiler, 
read John Ellis' book on the Bulldog compiler for VLIW machines.

It is especially amusing that the C compiler for the AT&T chips is so BAD.
The assembly language was designed to look like C.  Analog Devices is at
least trying to modify C to make it friendlier for DSP but I'm not sure that
their efforts will be successful.  Any high level language is better for
us humans than machine code.

Listen up DSP makers....compilers can write better assembly code than us
mere humans.....especially if you give the compiler a chance.  Pay attention
to the lessons that the RISC people taught the CISC dinasours.

					Malcolm Slaney
					DSP Hacker on all sorts of machines