On 7/7/2012 11:05 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
Compilation is a huge bottleneck for any major C++ code base, and adding hardware (distributing compilation etc) is survival, but definitely doesn't scale to make the problem negligible. In contrast, programmers have considerable control about generating fast code.
Our bottleneck with a large C++ codebase (Unreal Engine based game) is linking. Granted we have beefy workstations (HP Z800 with dual quad or hex core xeons and hyperthreading), but a full build+link is 4-5 min, and a single change+link is over 2 min.
You can also speed up C++ compiling by merging a bunch of the .cpp files together (google "unity c++ build"), though if you go too crazy you will learn compilers eventually do explode when fed 5-10 megs of source code per translation unit heh.
