Poll: Primary D version

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 05/22/2010 02:22 PM, retard wrote:
> Sat, 22 May 2010 13:59:34 -0400, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>
>> "Robert Clipsham"<robert at octarineparrot.com>  wrote in message
>> news:ht8m7t$2qua$1 at digitalmars.com...
>>>
>>>   - and should I ever feel there's a use for my apps outside of
>>>   localhost
>>> people will wonder why they don't support x86_64 natively (I believe
>>> this will change after D2 from various comments from Walter).
>>
>> Most apps don't need native x86_64. Only things that really push the
>> limits of CPU/memory utilization need it, which, aside from bloatware
>> (which admittedly is at epidemic levels lately), is really only a
>> minority of apps. For the rest, if it already runs fine on 32-bit, then
>> the same exec on a 64-bit machine is only going to run better anyway,
>> and if is already ran fine before, then there's no problem.
>
> You're suffering Stockholm syndrome there. Not having a functional 64-bit
> compiler isn't a positive feature.
>
> On a 4 GB system you lose 600+ MB of memory when using a 32-bit operating
> system without PAE support. In addition, x86 programs might be tuned for
> i586 or i386, forcing them to not utilize only 50% of the registers
> available. In the worst case they don't even use SSE at all! Some
> assembly experts here probably know how much slower x87 is when compared
> to SSE2+.
>
> Guess how much a 64-bit system with 4 GB of RAM costs these days - a
> quick search gave me the number $379 at
>
> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Factory-Refurbished+Desktop+with+AMD
> +Athlon&%23153;+II+X2+Dual-Core+Processor/9880623.p?
> id=1218188306780&skuId=9880623
>
> I already have 24 GB in my Core i7 system. I can't imagine how a 32-bit
> system would benefit modern users.

You both have a point. Clearly not a lot of individual applications 
really need more than 4GB (though unfortunately, many are pushing up for 
the wrong reasons), but then a whole category of them would greatly 
benefit of expanded RAM availability.

Andrei