Re: End of optimization...

mayan@sandbridgetech.com writes:


>One question is - why develop a
>peculiar architecture in the first place?
...
>If you're going to spin a chip, why not just build an ASIC perfectly
>tailored to the problem?
>
>This ASIC may have a limited (or even a large) amount of
>programmability. But, if it was developed for one or two applications,
>then providing a compiler for it is overkill - the effort is better
>spent just hand-coding the chip.
...
>Compilers only make sense for platforms - i.e. for some kind of
>generally programmable hardware for which a moderate number of
>applications will be developed.


I think this ignores technology improvements which mean that it is
possible to cheaply generate a somewhat optimizing compiler for
a new chip, by just giving a machine description for the new chip.


--
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au> | "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne | of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh> | -- the last words of T. S. Garp.

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