On 20/09/13 18:01, Walter Bright wrote:
I know that, at least with dmd's back end, it's because the optimizer was built
around the kinds of things that C++ programmers tend to write. The D
range/algorithm generates unusual code (for the back end) that the back end
doesn't optimize for.
For example, ranges tend to lump several variables together and call them a
'struct'. The back end is not tuned to deal with structs as an aggregate of
discreet 'variables', meaning that such variables don't get assigned to
registers. Structs are treated as a lump.
This is not a fundamental performance problem with D.
The back end needs to be improved to "dis-aggregate" structs back into discreet
variables.
I wouldn't single out DMD for criticism -- I don't know to what extent the
underlying reasons overlap, but all the compilers cope less well with
range-based material than they might in theory.
The canonical example would be something like,
foreach (i; iota(10)) { ... }
which in theory shouldn't be any slower than,
foreach (i; 0 .. 10) { ... }
but in practice is, no matter what the compiler.
