Re: Vector Extensions in GCC

[Stan Shebs <shebs at apple dot com>]

Daniel Berlin wrote:
> 
> > Intel's
> > docs are pretty sketchy on all this, mostly focused on a mysterious
> > builtin __m128 type of indeterminate nature, and not present in GCC.
> 
> Actually, it's just defined as
> 
> typedef int __m128 __attribute__ ((mode (TI)));
> typedef int __v4sf __attribute__ ((mode (V4SF)));
> typedef int __v4si __attribute__ ((mode (V4SI)));

OK, that demystifies a lot.

> It's in a file that gcc doesn't have, nobody every bothered to submit
> it (xmmintrin.h).

Seems like it would be a good idea to have in, eh?  Several people
have asked about it over the past several months, this is the
first concrete reply I've seen.  Even better, we should have test
cases, leaves no room for confusion about whether the support works.

> > 0. Basic vector register support.  Names, classes etc.
> 
> We have this.

I was referring to the AltiVec-specific bits that will need to go
into config/rs6000.

> I'm a ppc linux folk, and i've never used the vector extensions.

Obviously I'm referring to GCC users who do signal processing,
graphics, and all those other applications.  There are a bunch of
people who buy PowerMacs specifically to install Linux and run
hand-vectorized code on them.

Stan