[boost] Re: Raw Array Classes

From: Paul Baxter (paje_at_[hidden])
Date: 1999-09-01 14:59:47

Its moved to
www.oonumerics.org/blitz/

[ Check out the excellent high quality links page at
www.oonumerics.org/oon  as well if you're looking for free numerical libs ]

Oh and Blitz doesn't work with MSVC as it makes extensive use of standard
C++ features Microsoft doesn't yet support (sound familiar!)

Currently gcc is OK, maybe MSVC v7 (SP 3 of course)

There are also benchmark comparisons for Blitz.

You might also take a look at
http://www.ccnet.com/~paulp/HPGP/HPGP.html
High performance gaming in C++ but directly relevant to any C++ benchmarking

Please read them before deciding on hand coding, as the second link directly
compares with Intel assembly code.

I guess the C++ designers weren't kidding when they strived not to minimise
any overhead used by C++
(I made sure I ditched Microsoft's memory allocator after benchmarking)

Paul

> > > Have you looked at blitz++ library ? It uses no assembler,
> > > just templates etc. I'd be interested to see how it compared
> > > to raw assembler,
> > > especially with a decent compiler.
> >
> > No, haven't looked at much third-party stuff other than Boost and SGI's
STL.
> > Any more, if it costs money, the outfits I work for won't buy it.  And
most
> > of the programmers don't believe in it.  Hey, out of maybe 60
programmers
> > here, there's maybe two who even believe in templates, and only one
other
> > than me who uses assembler.  Namespaces everyone but me rejects, because
of
> > their bad experiences with VC++ 4.0.  So I'm viewed as something of a
> > troublemaker for just using the coding techniques I know <g>.  There's
also
> > a strong "not invented here" effect at work.  I couldn't interest anyone
in
> > MathEngine here, even though it whales the tar out of any physics engine
in
> > the building, and is practically free, to boot.
> >
> > But for my own stuff, I'm always willing to look at new stuff.  Have you
got
> > a URL on Blitz++, or is it web-findable?  Thanks.
>
> The URL I have is : http://monet.uwaterloo.ca/blitz/
> but it seems to be down currently. I do know what you mean about being
viewed as
> a troublemaker.
> I insist on using the standard C++ library wherever possible instead of
the
> preferred in-house use of MFC. I detest MFC and try to never use it.
Recently,
> however, my decision was vindicated when a large client expressed concern
over
> some code that we were licensing them - they wanted to make sure it used
> portable code - specifically STL over MFC as they are on a different
platform
> than us.
>
> I myself haven't used blitz but I have heard great things about it, and
was
> interested in how it would compare up for the stuff you are doing, and if
it was
> even appropriate for that.
>
> Do you really see a great speedup by hand-coding the assembler ?
>
> Nick