Re: reading a text file into a string

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@comcast.net>]

Randy Brukardt wrote:

> Indeed, it would make the most sense to allocate such objects from a storage
> pool (with enough extra memory to support the alignment); align the
> resulting address, and use an address clause to force the object to use that
> memory. That would get the performance benefit in the rare case where it
> would help without costing anything to implementors or to users of programs
> that don't need the alignment.

You may have a winner Randy.  The problem (to me) is that the pain of 
aligning buffers 'by hand' is high enough that I only do it when it is 
necessary to get decent performance.  I am talking of cases where there 
is a 2x or 3x speedup if some objects are cache aligned.  For ordinary 
programs where there may be a 5 to 10% benefit for aligning a particular 
buffer, it is just too much work without compiler support.

But if I create a cache-aligned storage pool, where all objects are 
allocated on natural cache boundaries then I just need a couple extra 
lines to do the alignment.  Of course the buffers will have to be on the 
heap, I'm thinking about the right garbage collection approach to use...

-- 

                                           Robert I. Eachus

"The flames kindled on the Fourth of July, 1776, have spread over too 
much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; 
on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them." 
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1821