Re: Int toolset routines-how often are they used?

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <4i9k9m$adv@hearst.cac.psu.edu>,
First M. Lastname <userid@psu.edu> wrote:
> I am considering writing a series of routines to replace the integer
> toolset to help speed up various operations of the GS.

Bad idea.  Unless you get them running significantly faster, you will
slow things down just by having them running in RAM (code in ROM runs
at 2.8 MHz, while RAM is limited to about 2.5 MHz).

> Since I do not know how often most program use these built in integer
> routines, I do not know if it would be worthwhile.

Anything written in ORCA/C or ORCA/Pascal will not use them.  Assembly
language code might use the multiply/divide routines (but ORCA/M
provides macros which use its own routines for these operations).

> Also, would it be useful to replace the built in blockmove routine?

Again, this will slow things down because it isn't in ROM any more (but
in this case, I think the Memory Manager constructs code on the stack
to do the move).

It is already making use of MVN/MVP, so you would have to improve on 7
cycles per location copied.  (There are four memory move routines -
HandToHand, HandToPtr, PtrToHand and BlockMove - which probably use
the same routine internally.)
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand