I don't think approaching "quantum levels of computing" has anything to do with it. Yes, processors are getting smaller, but I don't think that's the problem the orginal poster is hitting.

It's not just that CPU manufacturers are approaching sizes of a single atom, but the way the processor works is no longer easily determined. IIRC, Intel gave up publishing op code timings back with the PII 400--the timings fluxuated so much between runs that there was no point.

Branch prediction, piplining, and now hyperthreading basically make processors into run-time code optimizers. I've studied some hand-optimized ASM compared to the output of GCC, and while the hand-optimized can shave off an instruction or two, it will suffer more if the processor makes a branch misprediction.

So all in all, its better if programmers leave that stuff alone if we can get away with it.

----
I wanted to explore how Perl's closures can be manipulated, and ended up creating an object system by accident.
-- Schemer

Note: All code is untested, unless otherwise stated

In reply to Re: Re: Optimizing into the Weird Zone by hardburn
in thread Optimizing into the Weird Zone by dws

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