Re: ASM vs portable code [WAS: Re: Java DES breaker?]

["John Poole" <jfpoole@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>]

Dale Thorn wrote:
> I remember sitting down with some ASM programmers in the mid 1980's
> (using x86 PCs), and at that time, looking at the Codeview tracings,
> it occurred to me that ASM would nearly always run 2x faster than 'C',
> something that is inherent in the processes.

This discussion sounds similar to the "C vs. Assembler" thread that's been
raging on comp.lang.c for the past couple of months. The general consensus
seems to be that on an x86 processor, using C for most of your program and
using assembler sparingly is the best way to go. Plus, most compilers will
produce code that runs about 1.2 - 1.5 times slower than your average
assembler code. You mileage, of course, will vary.

-----------------------------------------------
John Poole, 2A AM/CS, University of Waterloo
http://www.undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca/~jfpoole
"I've gone too far, for too little."