compiler using SMP (multiple CPUs)?

hello everybody,

is there a compiler that actually makes use of a second cpu?
As I read (maybe wrong), that Visual c++ wouldn't...
...of course I can imagine compiling big projects with many
tasks (threads) then surely do use a second cpu, as they are a
quantity that is distributed by the operating system amongst
the CPUs. Is there a compiler that explicitly supports "SMP" though?

I heard that gcc does (of course after you got your kernel
compiled for SMP) , but then why the hell wouldn't
visual c++?

Most programs built with Visual C++ run as user mode programs...and as such they dont really have much control over what processor runs what code - that is left up to the Operating system. If you run a version of windows that supports multi processors (like Win2000) then the part of the system that's responsible for scheduling threads and interupts will be coded to take advantage of having more than 1 CPU...so you still get the benefit without having to worry about the implications

If you are using VC++ to write a device driver then you do need to worry about more than 1 processor...but then that's a whole different world than writing for user mode anyway

that's correct, but what I actually meant is the following (maybe this isn't the appropriate board for this question):

which of the c++ compilers are programs taking advantage of more than one cpu? Is there a win32 compiler that does?

You probably know that there is fairly ten programs that really support two CPUs. For example under Windows, there is no packer,
that actually can seperate the task and divide it into seperate threads. Meaning, I can't even speed up unpacking. But most renderers, a lot of video and and mp3 codecs do so. Now I want to know if there is a compiler, that does while compiling.

On this page, he says, that gcc when you run it on a SMP kernel (which is a re-compiled kernel, with the SMP option set on) compiles twice as fast (I have to try this myself in the next time):

(sorry it is german, but there is a table by the paragraph
"Performanceanalyse - Compilieren eines großen Projektes")
http://www.linux-magazin.de/Artikel/...7/SMP/smp.html

but here, on this page, I found EPIC games saying, that Visual C++ "is not multithreaded"
http://udn.epicgames.com/Technical/RecommendedHardware

I have to make these tests myself as well, but I don't really have own programming projects, that are big enough yet ;-). Right now I am a little more interested in the "facts", originally I am not a computer science student, but mechanical engineering.

regards,
melmo

I don't think that a compiler needs to be aware of multiple processors, the kernel handles all of that when it is scheduling processes. It decides which cpu it is to run on. As said earlier, a driver would need to be smp aware, but not anything else, I think at least.

Allow me to rephrase your question:

What C++ compilers exist, that are implemented using multiple threads (and thus can take advantage of multiple CPU's during compilation)?

You've already ruled out VC++ :)

gg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fordy

Most programs built with Visual C++ run as user mode programs...and as such they dont really have much control over what processor runs what code

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They have control through the API: SetThreadAffinityMask

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sang-drax

They have control through the API: SetThreadAffinityMask

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Yeah...you can control what processor a thread can run on, but it's not really control in the sense that you can have complete access to a single processor to run a part of your program while the other processor is doing something else

I think he is asking for a multi-threaded compiler. One that uses more than one cpu for the purpose of compiling his source code.

I'm not sure of any right off hand. VC++ might do that in the Enterprise and Architect versions. I have heard that some compilers can even go as far as to use distributed computing to do their work.

Your best bet is to look up gcc.gnu.org and see what they have to say there. It might be possible that MinGW or Cygwin would be able to make use of the SMP but from my stand point it is unlikely.

I have never had a project that takes more than 10 minutes on a 500MHz celeron to compile. I have never needed a multi-threaded compiler.

On another note... all windows compilers that support the Windows API can allow your code to make threads. But that is not what your asking I take it.