Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!bywater!arnor!andreadoria!strom From: strom@arnor.uucp Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Aggressive optimization Message-ID: <1990Oct31.182940.16288@arnor.uucp> Date: 31 Oct 90 18:29:40 GMT References: <2060@aber-cs.UUCP> <65592@lanl.gov> <2677@l.cc.purdue.edu> <12175@ganymede.inmos.co.uk> <16101@csli.Stanford.EDU> <1990Oct30.221510.4392@cs.umn.edu> Sender: news@arnor.uucp (NNTP News Poster) Reply-To: strom@andreadoria.watson.ibm.com (Rob Strom) Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Lines: 26 In article <1990Oct30.221510.4392@cs.umn.edu>, thornley@cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley) writes: |> In article <16101@csli.Stanford.EDU> poser@csli.stanford.edu (Bill Poser) writes: |> > ... |> If my memory serves, the IBM 650 had a Symbolic Optimizing |> Assembly Program (yep, they used the acronym) that rearranged |> the machine-language instructions to a good order so that |> they can be executed faster on the drum memory. |> |> The concept that an assembler can mess with the translation is |> a lot older than some of the people reading it. |> |> (Disclaimer: I'm not sure it was an IBM 650, but it was on an |> IBM with drum main memory, which puts it back in the '50s. |> For an education in how people worked with such drum |> memories, go to alt.folklore.computers and ask about Mel. :-) |> |> DHT Yes, it was a 650. And there were arguments between advocates of ``high-level'' assembly programming and advocates of machine language with hand optimization. Plus ca change, ... :-) -- Rob Strom, strom@ibm.com, (914) 784-7641 IBM Research, 30 Saw Mill River Road, P.O. Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY 10958