[Newbies] Re: Primitives and array computation

[Bert Freudenberg]

Am 10.07.2008 um 22:09 schrieb Frederic Dambreville:

>> Generally, no. It's also hard to do in a general Array, since each
>> Float is a full object, any arithmetic on it does unboxing and boxing
>
> OK!
> The way I use it, this implies a strong limitation of squeak; each
> algorithm with intensive mathematical computation will need a
> dedicated primitive...
>
>> of a newly allocated Float object. To speed this up considerably you
>> would have to create primitive array that do not hold objects but.
>
> ?'but'?

... but instead hold floats directly so that primitives can operate  
without boxing and unboxing. This is how FloatArray works.

> So, I understand that I need:
> - intermediate classes, for storing 'true' arrays,
> - translators for converting to/from standard squeak classes from/to
> these intermediate classes,
> - primitives for array computation on these classes
> or something like that.
>
> A lot of work...
> Are there people, which have already done a part of the job? Or are
> interested by such classes and primitives?


See Nic's mail.

- Bert -