Re: polynomials

[ses@tipper.oit.unc.edu (Simon E Spero)]

In article <KANDERSO.94Feb24164817@wheaton.bbn.com>,
Ken Anderson <kanderso@wheaton.bbn.com> wrote:
>You iterative horner method is better than the recursive method because the
>compiler can avoid number consing.  Generally, you'll want horner to be a
>a macro.

A good compiler should be able to avoid boxing on a tail recursive 
version; an interesting question would be how many compilers would   
generate an unboxed entry point for the non-tail recursive version. The 
assembly code generated by cmu-cl for the macro version was as good as 
I initially expected; I guess the reason is the old float != real
problem.

I assume that MCL does the right thing, judging from the quality of people 
at Apple's Cambridge office; I just wish that they'd create a native version
of MCL for the PowerMac. That'd make for a killer home setup. As it is I'm
going for a classical approach and getting a couple of old Symbolics 
boxes from Texas; are there any lispm mailing lists still going?

Simon


-- 
Hackers Local 42- National Union of Computer Operatives, Chapel Hill section
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tar Heel Information Services - Nothing but net!   | WAIS/Z39.50 spoken here
North Carolina - First in Usenet	| DoD #612 | Tel: +1-919-962-9107