Author: Jeremiah Penery
Date: 19:38:44 03/05/03
Go up one level in this thread
On March 05, 2003 at 18:26:10, Robert Hyatt wrote: >The point of my comments is that Intel sets a sort of standard, and if someone >follows along, >but are not quite all there, it can cause problems. I had this problem with >Cyrix years ago as >their 387's were actually more accurate than Intel's, not to mention faster. >And they would >make every diagnostic program on the planet sound the alarm with floating point >errors. :) > >And I got tired of the phone calls asking about it and quit recommending them. >:) Why should a company be penalized for making a better product? >>>If everyone was a compiler expert, this might be forseeable. But they aren't. >>>And I doubt >>>most would think that -target=pentiumII would break a processor that is supposed >>>to be >>>compatible. >>> >>>Can I say more? >> >>A lot of the average programmers probably don't even know to use a specific >>processor target (when using GCC), or they use some other compiler. I'd expect >>someone who uses specific processor targets in their compile to have some basic >>understanding of assembly. > >I wouldn't. If you look at the simple help files, you might see: And you think even 5% of people look at help files? :) >"-target=pentiumII" This causes the compiler to optimize the program for >optimum >performance on the intel Pentium II processor. (hypothetical option and >explanation >of course.) > >That could get any beginner to try it and it would work. And introduce an >unknown >incompatibility with AMD. > >> >>>For the streetlight issue, the streetlight is not hanging over the street in >>>plain sight. It is >>>buried under the light pole, with a door with a combination lock on it that has >>>to be opened >>>so it can be seen. Do you expect John/Jane Doe to know that when there is no >>>sign on the >>>pole that says "look here for compatibility issues"??? >>> >>>I don't. >> >>I'm not sure I expect Jonn/Jane Doe to understand that you have to even look for >>traffic, whether the light says 'WALK' or not. Obviously, there are a lot of >>people who fit in that category. > >The problem here is that they don't even know there _is_ traffic. Who would >think >that the compiler produces an instruction that a compatible processor doesn't >support? >They don't even understand assembly language, much less instructions, much less >any >more details that are necessary to even understand that there might be a >problem. > >Remember, that intellect represents 99%+ of all the computer users on the >planet. And probably 99.9% of those people are not going to using anything but store-bought programs, which will check for processor support (or use basic 386-like instructions that MSVC emits), so they never run into this kind of problem.
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