From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=   wrote:   
   >   
   >VMS x86-64 has a better C++ compiler than VMS Itanium.   
      
   It is MUCH harder to write an efficient VLIW compiler than an efficient   
   compiler for a traditional architecture.  The need to keep as many   
   parts of the processor working at the same time for optimal performance   
   makes for a lot of added work by the compiler back end.   
      
   The whole idea of the VLIW system is that the compiler will be able to   
   optimize the code to gain paralellism of units inside the single   
   processor.  This is a very very ingenious idea but nobody has yet   
   been able to make a compiler that could do it well enough for it to be   
   a real win.   
      
   It is a very difficult job.  A lot of work was put into it.  The   
   available resources for that work have all evaporated now, gone   
   elsewhere to other better-performing projects.  The chance of the   
   fundamental problems ever getting solved at this point is slim.   
   --scott   
      
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)