[Info-vax] Itanium support is back in GCC 15

[Scott Dorsey]

=?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=  <arne at vajhoej.dk> 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."