[Sunhelp] Sparc Compiler

[James Lockwood]

On Sun, 20 Jun 1999, Wes Hofmann wrote:

> Currently I am using the GNU compiler on Solaris 2.6 sparc edition. 
> I've read and been told that SUN's (SparcWorks?) Compiler makes much
> better code for the solaris platform than does the GNU Compiler.  If
> that is true, is the increased performance enough to warrant buying
> SUN's compiler when I already have a free one that does what I need? 
> Thanks for any info. :)

First of all, is your code highly CPU-intensive and does it need to run as
fast as possible?  Given the high cost of the SPARCompilers it often may
make sense to put more money into hardware instead if you are running an
application you have developed.

You will see the largest difference in performance when you're running
code on an Ultra, especially FP-intensive code.  I have seen performance
improvements of up to 100% in specialized routines with an average across
the board improvement of 25% for "typical" programs.  Whether or not this
is worth a few kilobucks is up to you.

If you need to compile code under the Solaris 64-bit environment, then the
Sun compilers are the only game in town at this point.  egcs has most of
what is needed to do this, but it's a real stretch to call it production
quality.

As always, the best benchmark is the code that you care about.  If you're
undecided, download the free Try and Buy compilers from Sun and do some
profiling.

-James