Re: [boost] [OT?] SIMD and Auto-Vectorization (was Re: How to structurate libraries ?)

Subject: Re: [boost] [OT?] SIMD and Auto-Vectorization (was Re: How to structurate libraries ?)
From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2009-01-20 07:58:44

on Tue Jan 20 2009, "Dean Michael Berris" <mikhailberis-AT-gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Patrick,
>
> On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Patrick Mihelich
> <patrick.mihelich_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>
>> The sense I'm getting from this discussion is that SIMD code generation is
>> uninteresting, and that we should stick our heads in the sand and wait for
>> the Sufficiently Smart Compilers to come along. OK, I sympathize with this.
>> Writing functions using SIMD intrinsics is a bit of a distraction from the
>> computer vision tasks I actually care about, but I have time budgets to meet
>> and usually some work of this type has to be done.
>>
>
> Actually, I think you're missing the point (at least from what I'm saying).
>
> I'm saying SIMD code generation ought to be the job of the compiler(s)
> for the platforms where they make sense. 

Why are these SIMD operations different in that respect from, say, large
matrix multiplications?

> Now *if* you wanted to be able to specifically make it work, you can
> do something that others have already been doing: adding a layer of
> indirection.

I.e., a library?

> Now this layer of indirection can be as clever as a DSEL (which I
> don't think it needs to be) or as simple as a function that switches
> implementations at compile time using preprocessor macros or some
> other facility. Now if you needed to optimize a set of operations that
> are specific to your field (like for example, applying a blur on a set
> of pixels represented by a set of floats) then I wouldn't find it hard
> to imagine having that specific part hand-optimized for your need.
>
> Does this need another library? I wager to say it doesn't -- it's like
> saying you're implementing a DSEL in C++ to do simple mathematics. 

Why do you say that?  Do you routinely find yourself having to write
non-portable code to do simple math in C++?  Do you routinely find that
the compiler generates inadequate simple math code?

--
Dave Abrahams
BoostPro Computing
http://boostpro.com