Re: transmeta cpu code question

Jamie Lokier
2003-11-21T08:49:18Z

John Bradford wrote:
> > > It's also not faster in any meaningful way, since the dynamic
> > > translator does optimistic optimization.
> >
> > Statically compiled code for the Crusoe chips may not be faster.
> > (Arguably statically compiled code for _any_ CPU is not the best
> > strategy for fast code).
> >
> > But if someone is able to write better code morphing software than
> > Transmeta, that would be faster :)
>
> The idea of a CMS which only implemented the subset of X86
> instructions that gcc actually uses was discussed on the list a few
> months ago, but unsuprisingly it never progressed beyond the thought
> experiment stage.

What would be the point in that? Surely the CMS overhead for decoding
the rarely used x86 instructions is negligable, precisely because of
their rarity?

-- Jamie