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SubjectRe: Kernel bugs found using inspect tool
Peter T. Breuer wrote:
> Nathan Zook <nathan.zook@amd.com> wrote:
> > With out-of-order execution, note that if((a == b) | (c == d) | (e < f))
> > runs faster if c, d, e, and f have no side effects--and the parens ARE
> > required.
>
> Eh? But you are using bitwise or. I had logical or, whose order is
> defined, being that of lazy left-right evaluation, and whose precedence
> is looser than that of the relational operators precisely so that you
> can write boolean propositional compounds without those annoying parens.

The point is that an out-of-order processor (such as a modern x86)
doesn't execute instructions in the order emitted by the C compiler. So
in the above expression, it will typically fetch a, b, c, d, e and f,
and execute all the comparisons in parallel.

However, an out of order process will speculatively execute past
branches, so that || version might be just as fast. And if the branch
predictor is doing a good job, it might just be faster because you don't
issue the unlikely instructions. But Nathan is from AMD so I'm sure
he's right :-)

> Or am I wrong? It's been at least 15 years since I read K&R ...
> Nah. No chance.

Your C is fine.

enjoy,
-- Jamie

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