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Evaluating JavaScript in an Embedded XULRunner/Gecko Window
This post has moved.
I intended to write something with more substance tonight, but I'm ( Read more... ) -
Vegetables That Don't Suck, Part III: Leafy Green Things
I grew up eating iceberg lettuce. And then more iceberg lettuce. I thought iceberg and fruit were the only salads you could eat. Good thing I was wrong.
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Vegetables That Don't Suck, Part II: Parsnips
July 22nd, 2008 was the first time I'd ever eaten a parsnip. On that day, I became a parsnip evangelist. Based on the blank stares of my audience, I realized that most people have never eaten them as well.
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Vegetables That Don't Suck, Part I: Sweet Potatoes
Growing up, I never enjoyed vegetables that much. Sure, I learned to eat brussel sprouts, broccoli, lima beans, cabbage, and onions but I never particularly enjoyed them...
Now that I'm a bit older and my palate has matured, I have discovered that, indeed, the above vegetables suck. (I know, I know; some people like broccoli... But I'm with ( Read more... ) -
Latency vs. Throughput
This post has moved.
This is my last post about processors and performance, I swear! Plus, my wrists are starting to hurt from this bloodpact thing (as I'm diagnosed with RSI), so I think this will be a light one.
As I've discussed previouslymodern desktop processors work really hard to exploit the inherent ( Read more... ) -
Running Time -> Algebra -> Hardware
This post has moved.
I'm going to talk about something which should be obvious, but I continue to see people optimizing code in the wrong order (*cough* including myself *cough*). So, here's a reminder. When you're optimizing a bit of code...
FIRST
Make sure your algorithmic running time is right. O(1) is almost always faster than O(N), and ( Read more... ) -
A Simple Introduction to Superscalar, Out-of-Order Processors
This post has moved.
Since the Pentium Pro/Pentium 2, we have all been using heavily superscalar, out-of-order processors. I'd heard these terms a million times, but didn't know what they meant until I read The Pentium Chronicles: The People, Passion, and Politics Behind Intel's Landmark Chips (Practitioners)
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Logic vs. Array Processing
This post has moved.
I've always been amused by the Java vs. C++ performance arguments:
- "Java's faster than C++!"
- "No it's not!"
- "Yeah it is, look at this benchmark!"
- "Well look how much longer the Java version of program takes to start!"
Back and forth and back and forth. The fact is, they're both right, and here's why. I mentally separate code ( Read more... ) -
A Global Approach to Optimization
This post has moved.
Since joining IMVU, I have had two people tell me "Profilers (especially VTune) suck. They don't help you optimize anything." That didn't make sense to me: how could a tool that gives such amazingly detailed data about the execution of your program be useless?
Now, these are two very smart people, so I knew there had to ( Read more... ) -
The Real Benefit of Inlining Functions (or: Floating Point Calling Conventions)
This post has moved.
My mental model for the performance benefit of inlining a function call was:
- code size increases
- the overhead of the call, including argument and return value marshalling, is eliminated
- the compiler knows more information, so it can generate better code
I had dramatically underestimated the value of #3, so this entry is an ( Read more... )
