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From: archer%segin4.segin.fr@relay.prime.com (Vincent Archer)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: Compiler comparisons (object code)
Message-ID: <39247@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 17 Dec 90 08:21:54 GMT
Sender: usenet@ee.udel.edu
Lines: 22

I've seen haggling about various compilers and the size of the object they
produce. In my opinion, a sure way to compare those compilers is the (in)famous
dhrystone benchmark. So, select dhrystone.c and figure:

    - How long it takes to compile (on an idle system) the stuff?
    - The size of the .o (forget ACK's .s) produced?
    - The size of the stripped executable?
    - The number of dhrystones reported by the program?

(this with registers, without registers, with -O, without -O. 4 tests in all).

I think that this test would be very representative of the compiler (more than
code) quality, since dhrystone is a widely distributed & used benchmark. I'll
do the same on my ST, but I've only two compilers to compare: C68 and ACK
(btw, the number of dhrystones for each were posted by CvW earlier). GCC
wouldn't run on my 1Mo ST... :-)

	Vincent Archer
	Email: archer%segin4.segin.fr@relay.prime.com

"When you define a problem, evaluate it in two ways; what is going wrong, and
 what isn't going right..."