Randall R Schulz wrote:
On Wednesday January 13 2010, Per Jessen wrote:
...
AFAIC, the main argument is that if the compiler uses 100 instructions to implement an algorithm, and I use 90, that's 10 instructions saved (all instructions being equal). I've been writing assembler code for more than 20 years, and I'm quite certain I can do better.
Another common and important argument is that developer time is in the vast majority of cases more valuable than processor time. The relative difficulty of debugging lower-level languages along with the observation that bug counts correlate to lines of code written, not the amount of functionality implemented combine to skew the economic decision away from using assembly in all but the most narrow and specialized of situations.
Completely agree Randall, that's what I meant by "productivity". "sometimes" in the subject line covers just those narrow and specialized situations where speed is paramount, and all other considerations secondary. /Per Jessen, Zürich -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-programming+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-programming+help@opensuse.org