Re: Compiling C++ modules

Avi Kivity
2006-04-25T05:30:42Z

Martin J. Bligh wrote:
>
> So ... what exactly are you waiting for? We await the results with
> baited breath. This slick C++ kernel of which you speak can surely
> not be far away.
>
I'll start on converting 2.6.16 tomorrow, since you're anticipating it
with such eagerness. I expect it to take some days. But a few years ago
I did convert a filesystem in C to C++. The code was shorter, faster,
and more robust. Fast enough to take the top position in SPEC SFS, and
robust enough to handle the disks being pulled from under its feet
(which a very popular Linux filesystem written in C could not at the
time, and maybe today).

The speed benefits were largely due to algorithmic improvements, not
language micro-optimizations; however I do claim that C++ allowed much
faster refactoring, so we could focus our efforts on algorithms instead
of finding our way in ever-more-convoluted error paths.

--
Do not meddle in the internals of kernels, for they are subtle and quick to panic.