Compared to the slow idivl, abs could be negligible, right. However, abs does introduce new data dependence which might add a noticeable cost.Is there an abs instruction in the i386 instruction set?
No, the closest thing (input in eax, output in edx) is cltq addl %edx, %eax xorl %eax, %edxBut the register allocations constraints are pretty heavy considering that idivl already puts strain on the RA.
Paolo
