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It's intriguing, particularly in cases where the code written could be verified against a specification or at least comprehensively fuzz-tested against a 'known
by glangdale 10y ago
It's intriguing, particularly in cases where the code written could be verified against a specification or at least comprehensively fuzz-tested against a 'known good' version of the program. A mildly terrifying thought for a performance programmer - the idea that, perhaps, someone could just write some sloppy Python code to solve a program "at some speed" and have a automated system iterate it into some tuned, SIMD-laden, C/C++ horror-show.
While of course we have optimizing compilers to do this sort of thing now, you could imagine automated systems that attempt to preserve clarity and simplicity as they do it - and such a system could work semi-supervised, iterating with a human in the loop to steer the system towards more comprehensible solutions.
- petra 10y agoWell, for math we're already here: http://www.spiralgen.com http://www.spiralgen.com It's optimizes math code, both at the math level and the implementation level, and Intel have used it to optimize their performance libraries.
- tluyben2 10y agoNice, I did not see that one yet; any papers on how it works?
- petra 10y agosee: http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~moura/papers/ieeeproceedings-pueschelmouraetal-feb05-ieeexplore.pdf http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~moura/papers/ieeeproceedings-puesc... http://www.spiral.net http://www.spiral.net
- amelius 10y ago> Well, for math we're already here No, they are here: > SpiralGen holds the exclusive license to the Spiral software generation and optimization technology. But I wonder how that can be true if: > Spiral was developed under the lead of Carnegie Mellon University
- nickpsecurity 10y agoIt's called Technology Transfer to private sector. Happens all the time. The CompCert certifying compiler for C was a landmark achievement of INRIA that lots of CompSci is building on. A company called AbsInt controls the I.P. now.
- petra 10y agoThe thing i don't get: this seems like a useful but rarely used tech. Even if there are patents involved , i'm sure it's not patented everywhere around the globe, and it's just software, so why isn't there no real competition ? something like a reasonably prices SAAS service ?