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Slashback: Letters, Time, Revision

Slashback brings you updates tonight on Brian K. West, Clockless computing, and the state of GCC -- hope you enjoy them. There's at least some good to take with the bad :)

Pardon me, do you have the time? Several months ago, we featured a short piece about investigations into clockless computing. Reader xenophrak writes with an update: "Sun Microsystems announces new technology that lets processors run various components of their internals in an asynchronous fashion. The 'FLEETzero' (warning, PDF) chips do not abide by a global clock pulse, and see lower power requirements and heat due to this new feature.

From the web page: 'At the ASYNC 2001 conference, Sun Microsystems Laboratories described FLEETzero, a prototype chip with raw speed roughly twice that of today's chips. Where today's chips use 'synchronous' circuits with a global clock to manage activity, the new, faster FLEETzero chip uses radical new circuits with low-power, asynchronous logic elements that produce timing signals only where and when needed.'

This could have some good impacts on embedded devices, and total processor throughput."

As usual, not so simple. On Saturday you read about Brian K. West, an ISP employee who claimed to be facing unfair threats of prosecution from the FBI for doing nothing more than accidentally discovering a security hole in a local newspaper. A followup posting at Politech indicates that the story isn't quite that simple. Specifically, the FBI's interest in West seems to stem more from alleged attempts at cracking into the violated site than from a simple "found a problem" report. If what the FBI says is true, it changes the story quite a bit.

Time to get a yardstick near the refrigerator ... f97hs writes "Yepps. Delayed almost a week due to regression bugs, the awaited bug-fix release is finally here. Unfortunately, it seems it still can't compile the KDE ARTS-lib (due to, I think, problems with virtual baseclasses). Worth noting is that in order to speed the compiler up, the default to -finline-limit has been lowered. This sometimes leads to considerably slower resulting code, so use -finline-limit=5000 if you compile something you want to be FAST. The mirrors are here and the official release letter from Mark Mitchell might also be worth a read."

130 comments

  1. Wow by r2q2 · · Score: 1

    I guess no more mhz myth anymore.

    --
    My UID is prime is yours?
    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry but there will still be a practical MHz rating. Even an asynch state machine has a latency. 1/latency = MHz. Besides, the marketing guys need some comprehensible measure so they can play at dick-waving.

      So what if I'm a coward?

    2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fyi, it's "float like a...." not fly. dont make me call ali to come over and whap you!

    3. Re:Wow by ozbon · · Score: 1

      I think it's meant to be humourous, dingbat.

      The original quote was "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - the idea of stinging like a butterfly and floating like a bee is somewhat different...

      --
      I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
    4. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow.

      That is one fine display of bullshit and circular logic.

      How can I get in touch with in the future, if I should fall upon the need to flesh out a term paper with impresive sounding BS like this?

  2. FBI by codelord · · Score: 1

    Good grief....the important lesson here is never to report problems to the FBI. When in doubt stay quiet....they are everywhere.

    SAVE ME JEBUS!!!!

  3. Boycott? by Trollificus · · Score: 0
    "(warning, PDF)"

    Gotta love how PDF's linked on Slashdot now come with warnings.
    For the boycott-conscious, I guess. ;)

    --

    "People should be allowed to keep midgets as pets."
    - Gov. Jesse Ventura

    1. Re:Boycott? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They certainly are a subversive technology bent on undermining the American Way.

    2. Re:Boycott? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I heard PDFs make Baby Jesus Cry. :-(

    3. Re:Boycott? by AndyChrist · · Score: 1

      I hate seeing documents in pdf format. Especially ones that could just as easily be done in HTML or even plain text. (And that is MOST PDF documents, BTW)

      They are slow to load, due to the reader starting up. They leave less screen real estate open, if it's the plugin. And they are a pain in the ass to navigate, compared to HTML.

      But they're "printable." Oooooooh. (So are text files. So is HTML if it isn't crap) That's the only plus, that there is (usually) no hassle to printing them.

      I appreciate the warning.

    4. Re:Boycott? by sideshow-voxx · · Score: 1

      Point is, they're difficult to edit, and difficult to cut-and-paste from. Thus, if we want to share this info, we have to share it in the way it is presented there. This is why we boycott them.

      --

      "Anybody remotely interesting is mad, in some way or another" - Doctor Who

  4. I wouldn't upgrade to GCC 3.01 quite yet, reasons: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    • gcc 2.96 is actually more standards compliant than any other version
      of gcc released at the time Red Hat made this decision (3.0 is even more compliant, but not as stable) yet).
      It may not be "standards compliant" as in "what most others
      are shipping", but 2.96 is almost fully ISO C99 and ISO C++ 98
      compliant, unlike any previous version of gcc.
    • gcc 2.96 has more complete support for C++. Older versions of gcc could
      handle only a very limited subset of C++.
      Earlier versions of g++ often had problems with templates and other
      valid C++ constructs.
    • gcc 2.96 generates better, more optimized code.
    • gcc 2.96 supports all architectures Red Hat is currently supporting,
      including ia64. No other compiler can do this. Having to maintain different
      compilers for every different architecture is a development (find a bug, then
      fix it 4 times), QA and support nightmare.
    • The binary incompatibility issues are not as bad as some people and
      companies make you believe.
      First of all, they affect dynamically linked C++ code only.
      If you don't use C++, you aren't affected. If you use C++ and link statically,
      you aren't affected.
      If you don't mind depending on a current glibc, you might also want to
      link statically to c++ libraries while linking dynamically to glibc and other
      C libraries you're using:
      g++ -o test test.cc -Wl,-Bstatic -lstdc++ -Wl,-Bdynamic
      (Thanks to Pavel Roskin for pointing this
      out)
      Second, the same issues appear with every major release of gcc
      so far. gcc 2.7.x C++ is not binary compatible with gcc 2.8.x. gcc 2.8.x C++
      is not binary compatible with egcs 1.0.x. egcs 1.0.x C++ is not binary
      compatible with egcs 1.1.x. egcs 1.1.x C++ is not binary compatible with
      gcc 2.95. gcc 2.95 C++ is not binary compatible with gcc 3.0.
      Besides, it can easily be circumvented. Either link statically, or
      simply distribute libstdc++ with your program and install it if necessary.
      Since it has a different soname, it can coexist with other libstdc++ versions
      without causing any problems.
      Red Hat Linux 7 also happens to be the first Linux distributions using
      the current version of glibc, 2.2.x. This update is not binary compatible with
      older distributions either (unless you update glibc - there's nothing that
      prevents you from updating libstdc++ at the same time), so complaining about
      gcc's new C++ ABI breaking binary compatibility is pointless. If you want
      to distribute something binary-only, link it statically and it will run
      everywhere.
      Someone has to be the first to take a step like this. If nobody dared
      to make a change because nobody else is doing it, we'd all still be using
      gcc 1.0, COBOL or ALGOL. No wait, all of those were new at some point...
    • Most of gcc 2.96's perceived "bugs" are actually broken code
      that older gccs accepted because they were not standards compliant - or, using
      an alternative term to express the same thing, buggy.
      A C or C++ compiler that doesn't speak the standardized C language is
      a bug, not a feature.
      In the initial version of gcc 2.96, there were a couple of other bugs.
      All known ones have been fixed in the version from updates - and the version
      that is in the current beta version of Red Hat Linux. The bugs in the initial
      version don't make the whole compiler broken, though. There has never been
      a 100% bug free compiler, or any other 100% bug free non-trivial program.
      The current version can be downloaded
      here.
    • gcc 3.0, the current "stable" release (released quite some time
      after Red Hat released gcc 2.96-RH), fixes some problems, but introduces many
      others - for example, gcc 3.0 can't compile KDE 2.2 beta 1 correctly.
      Until the first set of 3.0 updates is released, I still claim 2.96 is
      the best compiler yet.

    Trolling for GCC 2.96
  5. Compiler Optimisation by jedwards · · Score: 1

    They're optimising the speed of the compiler at the expense of the speed of the compiled code?

    That seems like a very odd decision ... the compilation is a one-off event while the end result is potentially going to be run all over the world millions of times per day.

    The default should be to favour the end-user at the expense of the developer. Nb. I am a developer!

    1. Re:Compiler Optimisation by TACD · · Score: 1
      Ah, but take a look from the point of view of the developers. They get to crank out the code to sell faster, and their users get only slightly more miffed.

      Not great PR, but it's all about the money. Customer care is a thing of the past. The worst part is that everyone will just get used to it.

      (At least it's not actual quality of code being sacrificed...)

      --
      Security through promiscuity is no better than security through obscurity.
    2. Re:Compiler Optimisation by codealot · · Score: 1

      It's not quite that simple. They've tweaked the inliner a bit, since g++ 3.0 compile times are sometimes hideously slow. Only the default is changed.

      It doesn't necessarily produce slower code. Over-aggressive inlining can also be detrimental to execution time. The current limit is an attempt to compromise until better inliner heuristics are found.

      The issue has been discussed at length in the GCC archives.

    3. Re:Compiler Optimisation by koreth · · Score: 2
      I'd rather have the compiler be faster and the code somewhat slower 90% of the time, since most of my compiles are part of compile-debug-tweak cycles, not released to endusers. In that case performance of the compiled code is typically not as critical as fast turnaround time. I imagine most developers similarly compile their code a lot more often than they release it.

      Obviously the compiler still needs to produce really fast code when I tell it to, though.

    4. Re:Compiler Optimisation by jedwards · · Score: 1

      When you're in compile-debug-tweak mode then you're compiling with optimisations turned off, right? Otherwise the 'debug' part of the cycle is a PITA.

    5. Re:Compiler Optimisation by Alien54 · · Score: 2
      Obviously the compiler still needs to produce really fast code when I tell it to, though.

      Thank god you added this last bit.

      Otherwise it would have sounded like you worked for a certain very big software company.

      It actually sounds like something they would do, y'know.

      ;-)

      - - -
      radiofreenation.com
      is a news site based on Slash Code
      "If You have a Story, We have a Soap Box"
      - - -

      --
      "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  6. fast KDE? teach the programmers! by mi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No compiler can make up for poor programming...
    The amount of needless string copying is mind
    boggling (extrapolating from the bugs in kdelibs-2.2/kdoctools)...

    --

    "If the cows start flying, there is nothing for me
    to do in space
    " -- captain Zelenyj (Green) from
    the "Mistery of the Third Planet".

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:fast KDE? teach the programmers! by update() · · Score: 2
      The amount of needless string copying is mind boggling (extrapolating from the bugs in kdelibs-2.2/kdoctools)...

      ...and you think extrapolating to all of KDE from unnamed bugs in one module that was recently rushed into service is sound statistical practice?

      1) The KDE code that's not compiling with the new gcc is correct, and it's a compiler bug that's the problem. (At least that's my understanding, someone correct me if I'm wrong.) 2) The speed issue mentioned here has nothing to do with KDE.

      As it happens, I do think that KDE is unacceptably slow on less than really fast boxes. But the reasons for that are understood and have nothing to do with "poor programming". (No, I haven't tried the prelinking hacks yet.)

      Two more asides:
      * Timothy, it would help if you mentioned that the last bit pertains to gcc instead of leaving that a mystery.
      * I agree with the person who said it's nuts to have a compiler default to fast compiles and slow executables.

    2. Re:fast KDE? teach the programmers! by update() · · Score: 1
      Timothy, it would help if you mentioned that the last bit pertains to gcc instead of leaving that a mystery.

      Err, my bad. (Although a little additional clarification wouldn't have been out of line...)

    3. Re:fast KDE? teach the programmers! by Chagrin · · Score: 1

      It makes sense to have a compiler default to fast compiles - gcc is a developer's tool, and one thing that developers do is recompile their code A LOT. Any good programmer knows that the last step in code development is optimization.

      Setting the compiler to fast executables is something that is only done when the software has reached its release state. Any distributed software will of course include a Makefile or similar which will set the fast executable settings on.

      --

      I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation

    4. Re:fast KDE? teach the programmers! by update() · · Score: 1
      Setting the compiler to fast executables is something that is only done when the software has reached its release state. Any distributed software will of course include a Makefile or similar which will set the fast executable settings on.

      Sure, I realize that you would do that, just like you turn on optimization and turn off debugging when you release. Still, to me it seems much safer to default to faster code and expect the programmer to make the change to get faster compiles. Especially in the free software world, where so many apps are written by people as clueless as, well, me, it seems like you'd want to make sure slow code doesn't get unknowingly distributed.

      IMHO, of course.

    5. Re:fast KDE? teach the programmers! by rafa · · Score: 2

      As it happens, I do think that KDE is unacceptably slow on less than really fast boxes. But the reasons for that are understood and have nothing to do with "poor programming". (No, I haven't tried the prelinking hacks yet.)

      While the objprelink does help somewhat with startup time, it doesn't help with the overall speed of the apps. On my p200, kde2.2 (+objprelink) is still too slow to use day to day.

      --
      [Science] is one of the very few things that raises human life a little above farce and gives it the grace of tragedy.
  7. Ah ha!! by jonestor · · Score: 1

    So he is a hacker/cracker/whatever. So it seems we were getting upset over nothing.

  8. Get some better editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Delayed almost a week due to regression bugs, the awaited bug-fix release is finally here."

    Hmm, the awaited bug-fix release of what? Only after reading this blurb a couple times did I look back at the top of the story and guess that it's about GCC.

  9. That proves it! by MyMarty · · Score: 1

    No, the megahertz myth is true! That is, if a clock speed of zero does turn out to be fastest, right?
    I can see Steve Jobs gloating now - "Our processors don't even *have* a clock!"

  10. Politech.com by well_jung · · Score: 2
    I was not aware of this site. Pretty decent. It just made my list of daily visits. If you care about YRO, I'd reccomend you do the same.

    Of course there is always more to the story than the Defendant claims. I think most of the posts WRT that story were suspicious of his claims.

    --
    Carl G. Jung
    --
    "With one breath, with one flow, You will know Synchronicity" -La Policia
    1. Re:Politech.com by interiot · · Score: 1
      a brief note:

      that should be politechbot.com. politech.com is just one of those crap "most popular searches" squatter sites.

    2. Re:Politech.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of the posts (Especially the highly moderated ones) were suspicious of his claims. However the slashdot story itself was entirely credulous, and took the defendent's word as gospel.

      I guess this suggests that if they allowed readers to vote on upcoming stories, we'd get more skepticism and maybe even some fact checking, but a lot less controversial (bordering on troll) stories to discuss.

  11. Feeble Feebies by fm6 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Uh, didja happen to notice that "new information" came from West's own website? This is not new. Naturally the FBI claims that they are just "reacting to a threat".

    Security gurus are fond of likening this kind of crime to analogous physical crimes, such as trespassing or breaking and entering. That bears closer examination.

    Consider the situation where somebody forgets to lock their front door. Negligent, but not an excuse for entering the house in their absence. On the other hand, trying a door to see if your neighbor remembered to lock it is not considered a hostile act -- as long as you don't enter.

    Pushing the simile a little further: suppose you notice that somebody's smashed open your neighbor's front door with a sledge hammer. I suppose it's still technically trespassing, but who would fault you for entering the house to make sure nobody needs help?

    So consider the actions of Brian West, and other people like him, are analagous to the above. When is it like just trying the door, and when is it like entering the house uninvited. I don't think the analogies are obvious, though people seem to find it convenient to assume they are.

  12. I guess by Nanookanano · · Score: 3, Funny

    overclocking these chips is out of the question.

    --
    "..don't you eat that yellow snow."
    1. Re:I guess by SpinyNorman · · Score: 1

      Not only would overclocking not be possible because there's no clock, but also the "see if it'll go faster" notion doesn't apply - an async design already goes as fast as it possibly can - each gate provides it's output as soon as it's inputs are themselves all available - no sooner, no later.

  13. FBI -- KGB by zinovylr · · Score: 1

    It seems like the FBI is turning into the KGB. Prosecuting anyone that seems to have the least bit of an ability to exploit something.

    --
    "Free your mind and your OS shall follow"
    1. Re:FBI -- KGB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uhh no he broke into the system with stolen passwords (rread the links) therefore he hacked it therefore hes fucked - read the story before commenting in future

  14. Ah ha indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Evidently you are unfamiliar with the FBI's standard sequence of operations, which proceeds as follows:
    1. Arrest targeted individual.
    2. Falsify sufficient evidence to implicate said individual.

    1. Re:Ah ha indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they dont need to

      http://www.bkw.org/pdf/stigler-news-hack.pdf

      he admitted to it to a newspaper editor - the same guy he was tryig to get business off

      HES A HACKER - hes hung himself - they dont need help its an open and shut case and he hacked a direct competitors system - stole files etc etc - no one will defend this guy, not even the politech group

  15. Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elian Gonzales... by Bob_Robertson · · Score: 1
    Bonny and Clyde, John Dillinger, the history of the FBI has been a continuous flow of blood since the beginning.


    Bob-

    --
    The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
    1. Re:Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elian Gonzales... by skotte · · Score: 1

      actually, no, in the beginning, it was a fFlow of self-righteous prudism. The Beureau of Investigation was created, originally, to stamp out public indecency specifically associated with whore houses and postitution. they evidently mostly operated manhattan, NYC at the time (which had, as of the turn of the century, something like 300 whore houses).

  16. GCC embedded targets = ? by johnjones · · Score: 2

    he says in the letter

    "- Fixes for some embedded targets that worked in GCC 2.95.3, but
    not in GCC 3.0."

    so I have to ask what targets ?

    I hope its Mips and ARM targets (cover 90% of volume shipments so I guess its those)

    and is ARM-standalone back or not ?

    oh well anyone know anything ?

    regards

    john jones

  17. Clockless computing ? Surely this is impossible by Flabdabb+Hubbard · · Score: 1
    I mean, every single thing in a computer is on some sort of timer or another. From RAM to the Disk Drive, to the sound card, the modem and the CPU itself, everything is clocked.

    This must be a misprint, or some kind of 'troll' article like the ones you sometimes see at hardocp.

    1. Re:Clockless computing ? Surely this is impossible by TACD · · Score: 1

      I think only the processor is 'clockless', the motherboard and miscellaneous others just mosey along as usual. They don't care about clocks, they just send out their guff and wait for new guff to come back. How the processor deals with it ain't their problem.

      --
      Security through promiscuity is no better than security through obscurity.
    2. Re:Clockless computing ? Surely this is impossible by Bullschmidt · · Score: 1

      It doesn't say "clockless." Its says they "don't abide by a global clock pulse" which is VERY different. Each subsystem may have its own clock, but the subsystems are so assembled so they can run asychronously. Don't ask me how... its still pretty impressive.

      --
      "Of all days, the day on which one has not laughed is the most surely the one wasted." -Sebastian Roch Nicol
    3. Re:Clockless computing ? Surely this is impossible by Balinares · · Score: 2

      Nah, if I got it right (note that I didn't read the article, it's 5am here and I'm too tired to download that PDF), different parts of the chip do their job at their own speed, somehow synchronizing between themselves when needed. So, effectively, there's no external clock, but your statement that 'everything is clocked' isn't wrong either.

      --

      -- B.
      This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
  18. clockless 32 bit ARM for a long time by johnjones · · Score: 2

    this has been done at manchester for a long time by the armulator led by the guy that helped create it

    jez it all gets invented in manchester then the yanks claim they had it first

    whats that you say ?

    BABY

    regards

    john jones

  19. cockless computing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have my sympathies.

  20. Re:I wouldn't upgrade to GCC 3.01 quite yet, reaso by Oirad · · Score: 1

    You know, if you're going to just copy word-for-word what Bernhard Rosenkraenzer (bero@redhat.com) said on his own website, (http://www.bero.org/gcc296.html) you should at least give credit where credit is due.

  21. Extension to the analogy by orangesquid · · Score: 2

    I often use these analogies myself when trying to determine if a computer crime is really a criminal act or not, as everybody has their own opinion about what is okay on the Internet....

    So I definitely agree with your line of thinking. Plus, it's a public webserver, for crying out loud: You were already invited to tour most of the premises!
    True, West may have poked and prodded more than necessary, but why does the company think it's more important to jail a nosy Samaritan than it is to actually fix their own unsecured property?

    --
    --TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
  22. And how much compile time is gained? by Bob_Robertson · · Score: 1
    The developer might be able to read email and get a cup of coffee, rather than just reading email, during the compile. Gee wiz.


    This may also be a simptom of the "microsoft" disease: creeping bloat, reliance on hardware to make up for shortcomings in software, endless features.


    The "cost" of making that little bit of effort to optimize for use might be substantial on a titanic project like MS Office, but I cannot imagine that a non-Borg developer would not take pride in their work and at least try.


    And then there's Steve Gibson who takes the principle of optimized code to its extreme. Good for him!


    Bob-

    --
    The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
    1. Re:And how much compile time is gained? by carleton · · Score: 1

      And I give you my fortune:
      Lesser Known Programming Languages: #13 -- SLOBOL

      SLOBOL is best known for the speed, or lack of it, of its compiler. Although many compilers allow you to take a coffee break while they compile, SLOBOL compilers allow you to travel to Bolivia to pick the coffee. Forty-three programmers are known to have died of boredom sitting at their terminals while waiting for a SLOBOL program to compile. Weary SLOBOL programmers often turn to a related (but infinitely faster) language, COCAINE.

    2. Re:And how much compile time is gained? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      added to sigs & quotes.txt
      tnx

  23. doh I ment armulet not armulator by johnjones · · Score: 1

    doh ment armulet
    I get so used to typeing armulator & that I put it everwhere

    john

    1. Re:doh I ment armulet not armulator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can't wait until you get used to typing english!

    2. Re:doh I ment armulet not armulator by chiller2 · · Score: 1

      It was actually the Amulet processor. For more reading check out the Amulet group website.

      Kelv :)

      (...who read about the Amulet way back when in an old issue of Acorn User)

      --
      --- Commission free trading & free stock up to $500 - use http://share.robinhood.com/kelvinp6 :)
  24. GCC == the triumph of Free Software by MSBob · · Score: 3, Insightful

    GCC can definitely be considered the success story of the Free Software movement. In terms of C++ standards compliance GCC is believed to be the first compiler to achieve full ISO compliance. No other compiler (commercial or otherwise) can make the same claim. And despite constant complaints about how much GCC sucks on platform X or Y it's still the most portable compiler out there. How many platforms has MIPS pro ben ported to? Or Sun Workshop C++? Or Visual C++? Or Borland C++? GCC is one of the killer apps of the whole community. Something we should be cherish and be thankful for.

    --
    Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
    1. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by partingshot · · Score: 3, Informative

      • In terms of C++ standards compliance GCC is believed to be the first compiler to achieve full ISO compliance
      Who believes that ???

      They don't support the export keyword for one.

      C++ Standard Core Language Defect Reports

      C++ Standard Library Defect Report List

      --
      Anonymous posts are filtered.
    2. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by randombit · · Score: 1

      GCC can definitely be considered the success story of the Free Software movement.

      Agreed.

      In terms of C++ standards compliance GCC is believed to be the first compiler to achieve full ISO compliance. No other compiler (commercial or otherwise) can make the same claim.

      As others have pointed out, it's not. It's good, though. However, the following compilers are also pretty good, comparable to GCC 3.0: KAI C++: runs on everything from Linux/x86 to Crays (also has a kick-ass optimizer); MIPSPro C++ (ok it's actually a bit less good than GCC 3.0, but I'm not sure I'm comparing the most recent version here); Compaq's C++ compiler: very good. I was impressed by that one.

      Sun's C++ compiler is the worst Unix-vendor C++ compiler I've used (haven't tried IBM's or HP's, though). And BTW, VC++ runs/ran on Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC. I have a CD of it. :)

    3. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by mce · · Score: 1

      Sun's compiler is very bad indeed. The HP one (I'm talking about aCC here, not about their old CC
      compiler mock up) is OK. It's definitely much better than what Sun tries to push down our throat. It also easily beats the old gcc 2.95 series.

    4. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by spitzak · · Score: 2

      VC++ on the Alpha we had to give up on compiling with any optimizations, due to a huge number of bugs. I would not consider the port a big success.

    5. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by randombit · · Score: 1

      Sun's compiler is very bad indeed. The HP one (I'm talking about aCC here, not about their old CC compiler mock up) is OK. It's definitely much better than what Sun tries to push down our throat.

      I almost fell out of my chair when I found out that their comiler is like $5000 (I was spec'ing one of these little Sun Blades, and was, like, oh, hey, I might as well pick that up, figuring it would be maybe $100 tops). It cost 2x what the machine would!

    6. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by randombit · · Score: 1

      VC++ on the Alpha we had to give up on compiling with any optimizations, due to a huge number of bugs. I would not consider the port a big success.

      Oh, well. IIRC GCC 2.95.2 (or something thereabouts) had problems on Alpha too. If you compiled with I think -O2 or higher, it would warning you that there were known GCC bugs on that system.

      What version were you using? I know they at least managed to build NT, and Win2K RC2, so I can't imagine it would be *that* bad. Or, then again, maybe it was.

    7. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by 11223 · · Score: 2
      You haven't tried Tandem's CC. Ten years later, still no ANSI compilance at all! Not even close!

      Do you know any other vendor that would ship a slightly modified K&R compiler in 2001?

    8. Re:GCC == the triumph of Free Software by spitzak · · Score: 2
      We have discontinued use of NT on Alpha (switching to Linux), so this was about 2 years ago, NT 4.something, and whatever version of the compiler came with it.

      The bugs may have been in floating point handling, possibly with assumptions about aliasing of floating point variables in structures. Basically things just refused to work when optimization was turned on. The same software works fine with VC++ on Intel NT, and with GCC, Dec, and Irix compilers.

      Our software uses extensive floating point and we compile without ANSI emulation in order to speed it up, this is probably the main difference from the NT kernel. Also MicroSoft probably fixed the bugs as they found them when compiling NT.

      GCC does produce slow code (probably 2/3 the speed of the VC++ Alpha code) but at least it works. And the optimized GCC is way faster than the unoptimized VC++.

  25. I can see the future! by SyniK · · Score: 1
    It seems that there is always (Warning, Blah) by links these days. Why doesn't everyone just put the link? For instance,
    The 'FLEETzero' (warning, PDF) chips do not abide by a global clock pulse, and see lower power requirements and heat due to this new feature.

    Could be written like:

    The details about the 'FLEETzero' chips are detailed in this paper http://research.sun.com://../sml2001-0139.pdf

    We can then see for ourselves if it's a PDF or perhaps a NY times link. Let me guess, people would rather make things look pretty then give good detailed information about a link...

    --
    -Tom
    1. Re:I can see the future! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummm.. does your browser not have a status bar?

    2. Re:I can see the future! by ethereal · · Score: 1

      Or even better, people could just wave their frickin' mice over the links before clicking and read where the link goes. Come on, people - goatse.cx got me exactly once, and I wised up. Surely this isn't such a hard lesson to learn...

      --

      Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and

  26. What are you talking about? by krmt · · Score: 2

    From what I understood, a major component of KDE's speed issues is C++ linking, which is an ld.so problem. ld is part of the whole gnu compiler collection system by the way.

    Waldo Bastian wrote an excellent paper on the subject of KDE's speed a couple of months ago.

    A lot of KDE's speed issues have been hacked at in the new 2.2 release, but the ld issues are still being worked on.

    So before you go blaming all of KDE's problems on the current bug reports in one small portion of a big big project, please read the literature at hand.

    --

    "I may not have morals, but I have standards."

  27. Bragging Rights for Clockless Systems? by Emil+Muzz · · Score: 1

    We already have neon on computers - now I suppose that if we lose the ability to brag about how many GHz our boxes can pull we're going to see 4" stainless steel exhausts on fans, oversized chromed feet for optimal desk-holding traction, and perhaps even those wonderfully ludicrous fake HID bulbs installed in the place of HDD LEDs.

    --
    ... not in here, pal, this is a mercedes...
    1. Re:Bragging Rights for Clockless Systems? by camusflage · · Score: 2

      Funny you should bring that up... Just this morning I stumbled across a computer on Bryan's Rice-Boy Page that has a racing stripe, has a clock display that's higher than the processor, and even has a VTEC sticker.

      Nyah, who needs karma anyway? It's funny, dammit. Laugh.

      --
      The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
  28. This has been going on for a while by streak · · Score: 1

    So this whole Asynchronous thing has been going on for a while. There has been extensive research done here at Caltech (in fact they developed the first Async processor here...). Also, there is a Caltech startup that is devoted to this sort of stuff, Asynchronous Digital Design.
    Its really cool stuff, and it can run ridiculously fast. Its just a bitch to design.

  29. As usual, not so simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well of course not. Anyone who took the time to read the complete documentation knew that already. Is it a crime to write a slanted story? The PDNS articles and FBI documents were hardly fair and balanced either! And I do give BKW credit for posting the additional information.

    As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.

    After all, to truly verify any suspected security hole, one must gain access to at least some information that seems as if it should be protected. Which is in itself a violation of applicable law.

    "The term 'exceeds authorized access' under 18 USC | 1030(e)(6) means to access a computer without authorization and to use such access to obtain information in the computer that the accessor is not entitled to obtain." That is so broad, it could apply to looking over your bank teller's shoulder at her computer screen.

    Does BKW deserve a felony conviction for this? If what he did was a crime, half the posters to Bugtraq should be in jail also.

    Also, it doesn't appear than any of Mr. West's critics have done any more research than reading the article printed by the same newspaper that turned in Mr. West and four pages of mostly ignorant commentary following the linuxfreak article. By comparison, such ignorant slander makes even the FBI affidavit (http://www.bkw.org/pdf/affidavit-hack.pdf) look reasonable.

    1. Re:As usual, not so simple. by InsaneGeek · · Score: 2

      Yes, but if you look at the affidavit

      1) He tries hundreds (that's with an 's' there) of times to break into their web app

      2) After the hundreds of attempts he finally gets a combination to give him a password file

      3) Instead of stopping at the point he *knew* he that he had broken their security, he continue on and goes back logs in as one of the employees

      It's a gray area, but there has to be a limit, it sure seems that attempting hundreds (again with an 'S') of attacks against a site, finally getting a password list, and still not stopping? Please, there has to be a sane limit here.

      I've purposely ignored the bank portion of this because the above sure looks like illegal activity (curiosity is one thing but to spend hours is another). If you throw the bank stuff into it, it screams of a classic shake down. Walks into the office, I've got a floppy disk with advertisement I want you to put on your site... oh, I "accidentally" got into your site, and in the past I "accidentally" got into the 1st National Bank's website, I also talked to them about their security didn't act very nice to me, so I then talked to the Sr. VP.... It almost has a feel of the mobster saying "Hey, we wouldn't want nothing to happen to your nice establishment. Nasty accidents can happen and we don't want that to happen to you, we'll be your *insurance* to make sure that no "accidents" occur. Capish?"

    2. Re:As usual, not so simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Yes, but if you look at the affidavit
      >1) He tries hundreds (that's with an 's' there) of times to break into their web app

      I did look at the affidavit. It does not say he tried hundreds of times to break in. It says "IIS logs show that hundreds of attempted connections to IP 12.5.229.2 originated from IP addresses 208.165.103.2, 208.165.104.201, and 208.189.4.18." (Paragraph 18)

      Someone familiar with web server logs will know that an "attempted connection" is logged every time any object is accessed. Not any page, but any object.

      For example, I estimate that the slashdot home page contains roughly 30 unique images. So every time I load http://slashdot.org in my browser, another 30 "attempted connections" appear in slashdot's log files. It doesn't take too many page views to reach "hundreds of attempted connections".

      Of course none of us know exactly what the affidavit meant by "attempted connections" without seeing the IIS logs, which do not appear to be available.

    3. Re:As usual, not so simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I've purposely ignored the bank portion of this...

      Another interesting and puzzling aspect of this story.

      If you look at this article from the Poteau Daily News...

      http://www.pdns.com/cgi-bin/pdns.pl?CGIscreen_ma in =&arc=y&submit=&art=4004

      the bank president says he neither knew Brian West nor had received a call from anyone regarding this. In fact, he says the bank did not even have a web site!

      And maybe I am missing it, but I do not see the bank mentioned anywhere in the FBI affidavit posted at http://www.bkw.org/pdf/affidavit-hack.pdf.

    4. Re:As usual, not so simple. by q-soe · · Score: 2

      I dont like to be seen to be attacking anyone but the facts (and i have read all the stuff on him i can find) seem to be
      Yes, but if you look at the affidavit

      1. He contacts a customer of another (rival) companies services and tries to convince them to use him

      2. He seems to decide to get this customer to use him by breaking into the rival companies system - as if aiming to impress them

      3. This isnt so easy to do - he needs several hundred attacks to enter the competitors system and then he does it by stealing a password file or hacking one (this is by defenition unauthorised access) Instead of stopping whewn he was sure that he had broken security, he goes one on and goes back logs in using an unauthorised account ans stolen password

      4. he then steals files off the system, no doubt trying to prove he was there

      5. he boasts about it to the prospective customer at the same time he tells the comany they have a hole in their system (one he had to work hard to find)

      6.He then brags that he broke into a bank and looked at their systems - the bank says they dont have a lin to the web - someone is lying here and it think i know who - i suspect he made the claim to establish his bonafides as a l33t haxor but it backfired and that claim is now in court records.

      Either that or as another poster said he was making threats that he could do some serious damage here.

      You Said :
      After all, to truly verify any suspected security hole, one must gain access to at least some information that seems as if it should be protected. Which is in itself a violation of applicable law.

      "The term 'exceeds authorized access' under 18 USC | 1030(e)(6) means to access a computer without authorization and to use such access to obtain information in the computer that the accessor is not entitled to obtain." That is so broad, it could apply to looking over your bank teller's shoulder at her computer screen.

      I say:
      Thats the point it is broad and if the company in question had not hired you to find breaches then you have no right to be attempting to gain access to what is deemed a private system (the fact it has publicly accessible web pages is irellevant) - YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO REMOVE OR COPY DATA FROM ANY SYSTEM WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thats the fact - the thing that pisses me off is the way in which people think that if you say youre working to fix a problem then its ok to hack into a system - its considered illegal and if you get caught (or brag about it) then you will get in trouble. The white hat argument is used so often it is becoming redundant and this guy is not a white hat.

      Any way he could have copied 1 file - maybe an old memo or something - please he took hundreds of files including passwords (check it out - its mentioned as being in the court transcript) - this blows away the small amounts of data routine.

      I would like to ask a few questions about mr west so i dont look to be seen as attacking him
      1. What age is he (speaks to maturity of action)
      2. Has he had any prior offences ?
      3. How long has he been in business

      These are simple things.

      The FBI have charged him based on a complaint from the owners of the system he broke into - thats the law and their right - the problem is all the 'whit hat' and hotmail exploit type hackers and code red designers have turned this subject into a hot potato and they are cracking down hard on hackers - this is apparent and has been for a while - you play where you should not there are consequences.

      thats the thing that gets me - you need to know that in life there are consequences for every action - these guys think that they can do what they like, and then cry out when caught contray to the law (and you might think the law sucks but its there and if broken it has penalties),

      The fact is this guys is going to be hung by his own mouth as much as anything

      --
      I refuse to argue with Anonymous Cowards - if you want a discussion get an account....
    5. Re:As usual, not so simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He posted the extra information after he got his balls caught in a vice and he knew he was in the shit so he tried to make it look like a white hat - the guy tried cynically to use you guys to help him and hide behind the dimitris of the worl - hes a fucking toad

    6. Re:As usual, not so simple. by Cl1mh4224rd · · Score: 1
      I would like to ask a few questions about mr west so i dont look to be seen as attacking him
      1. What age is he (speaks to maturity of action)

      i believe the linuxfreak article states that he's 24 years old.

      --
      People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
    7. Re:As usual, not so simple. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nope is suspect he was trying to be tough and show his hacker cred about the bank who claim to never have had a web presence - the problem is he told this to the guy whos site he had just hacked and thus it ended up in the court record - proving hes a dumbshit

    8. Re:As usual, not so simple. by q-soe · · Score: 2

      Then he is old enough to know better IMHO

      --
      I refuse to argue with Anonymous Cowards - if you want a discussion get an account....
    9. Re:As usual, not so simple. by InsaneGeek · · Score: 2

      The statements about him breaking into the bank, is in section 17, document page number 7 (my Adobe lists it as page 8, due to the coverpage)

      It states that he told the site he hacked that he had gotten into the 1st National Bank in McAlester, was able to look at checking, savings & funds transfer; then goes to tell that he informed a bank officer, who also acted in a hostile manner; so he then accessed the bank 2 additional times, and then told a senior VP of an Oklahoma City branch.

    10. Re:As usual, not so simple. by bobKali · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I'm just parenoid, and I'm probably wrong, but does anyone else think this looks like a con? LinuxFreak is registered to someone on Oklohoma, and all the information about this incident seems to be comming from either that article or his own website.
      And what's up with LinuxFreak trying to give me PayPal cookies?

      Even if this is legitimate, I don't think it'll be long before someone comes up with some BS story to make the hacker community feel like their rights are being trampled on, and then, by the way, I need money for a legal defense. Put out some less-than favorable press to give the story some cover, to make it look legitimate. People don't verify their facts very often even in the mainstream press, much less on-line, and I've yet to see any mention of this story anywhere that isn't directly traceable back to either the LinuxFreak website or Brian K West's website.

      I'm probably wrong, but something just doesn't seem right about this, and it's about time for someone to abuse the legal defense fund to defend our freedom thing to steal money. I think that if this guy's legitimate, then he should get the EFF (or some similar, reputable organization) involved, and then we could donate to them for his legal defense.

      If I'd be sceptical about it in an email - them I'm skeptical about it on a web site.

  30. Where did he get the FBI affidavit? by supabeast! · · Score: 2

    Where did the guy speaking up for the FBI see the FBI's affidavit? I am assuming that if it is available for the public to see the rest of us should be able to look it over.

    1. Re:Where did he get the FBI affidavit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you dont need to read the FBI affadavit

      http://www.bkw.org/pdf/stigler-news-hack.pdf

      he admitted it to a newspaper reporter (and a few other things)

    2. Re:Where did he get the FBI affidavit? by q-soe · · Score: 2

      From memory FBI affadivits are not public property but there is a letter on the links which gives you the gist of it

      --
      I refuse to argue with Anonymous Cowards - if you want a discussion get an account....
    3. Re:Where did he get the FBI affidavit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A copy of the affidavit is available at http://www.bkw.org/pdf/affidavit-hack.pdf.

  31. Not so casual security hole... by Saeger · · Score: 4, Insightful
    So, Brian didn't just happen to stumble across an obviously unlocked door; instead, he [allegedly] intently picked at the locks for a while, then reported the results of this lockpicking vulnerability... to his competition.

    A, "hey, I noticed your door's unlocked," from any Joe Schmoe I can appreciate, but what doesn't deserve my thanks is a, "hey, for the past few hours I tried breaking & entering into your place and finally discovered that your backdoor is vulnerable to the XYZZY-lockpick exploit -- you're most welcome...Oh, and btw, nice porn collection you've got there under your bed. Might I suggest a safe?"

    Maybe Brian considers himself a kind of Neighborhood Watchman... whose only crime is making damn sure your doors are properly locked, and that a midget thief can't squeeze in through your doggy-door. ;-)

    --
    Power to the Peaceful
    1. Re:Not so casual security hole... by tenor · · Score: 1

      I don't agree with this analogy. West did not TRY to break into the site, he simply walked through an open door. A better analogy might be this:

      Someone walks up to your door to insert a flier. When attaching the flier to your door (totally legit), the door opens. Curiousity strikes, and the caller walks in to see if anyone is home (questionable, but if the intent is friendly, not generally a big deal). Note that so far the caller has no intent on stealing anything. The caller then sees a set of keys on the floor, and decides to pick them up to see if they are the keys for the door. Upon discovering that they are, he notifies the owner that his door is open and that the keys are sitting right inside, within plain view of anyone who would want to steal something from him.

      I still don't see how he did anything wrong. Illegal? Possibly. Ethically wrong? Not really.

      --
      Opinions change daily as new information arrives. Stay tuned.
  32. Async clocks can make data metastable by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Normally, devices read data on a bus by sampling and holding. But with asynchronous clocks, there is no way to make sure that all the bits on the bus switch at the same time to assure that all devices meet their specified setup and hold times. This can lead to a state whether a bit is neither 1 or 0 but metastable for a short time, after which random noise from outside the flip-flop flips the bit to a 1 or 0. You also get "glitches," or the result of doing logic on the result of a "hazard" or race condition. Designers of asynchronous have to work very carefully to eliminate metastability and glitches.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  33. feeble indeed by cmaroney · · Score: 1

    Pushing the simile a little further: suppose you notice that somebody's smashed open your neighbor's front door with a sledge hammer. I suppose it's still technically trespassing, but who would fault you for entering the house to make sure nobody needs help?

    suppose you notice that your neighbor bought a cheap lock and you're able to kick in their door with little effort. Aren't you being a good neighbor by doing so and then maybe going through their personal belongings, just to show them the "security hole" they have? And while we're at it, those windows are made of regular glass! Anyone could break into that house! i don't think so.

    if you want to do security research that's great, and I support you. But doing it by actually breaking into people's systems and then claiming you were doing them a favor doesn't cut it. No one's security is perfect, in the real world or in the computer world. How good does my security have to be before you're committing a crime by breaking in and not just "doing me a favor?"

    --
    you know, you can't ride the concept of the horse.
    1. Re:feeble indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you need to use a business for your analogy. Homes are private, websites public.

    2. Re:feeble indeed by cmaroney · · Score: 1

      I think you need to use a business for your analogy. Homes are private, websites public.

      websites may be public but they reside on privately owned computers. just because i give you the right to use a browser to view my web page doesn't mean i give you the right to circumvent security (however flawed) on my computer and browse around on its hard drive and do whatever else you want with it.

      furthermore, if you want to talk about the issue in the context of a business, its easy to say "company X has lousy security! i will break into their office at night and steal their corporate secrets as a favor to them, to show them how poor their locks are" and its the same point.

      --
      you know, you can't ride the concept of the horse.
  34. Re:The flaw in this analogy is by q-soe · · Score: 2

    Good analogy and it has a little merit except for the smal fact that if you were found on the premises by said neighbour without permission you are in fact guilty of trespass - the police would maybe charge you - certainly your neighbour would not be happy.

    The adage of trying the door is another one i find intersting - point - your neighbour is not home so you go and check if the door is locked just to see ? what do you do if the door is open ? walk in ?

    Thats analagous to saying if you leave your door unlocked im justified in stealing everything you own (which would not stand up in a court of law - your insurance company would not pay out but as the thief you would still be charged with theft)

    The difficulty comes in trying to apply these standards to computer crime - did he hack it or not ? well from reading all of the linked info the answer looks to be yes he did - including the alleged use of stolen passwords. So he's not the white hat he says he is - if he found a hole and reported it that would be fine - but finding the hole and removing data left him open to charges of hacking or theft of company data - he may have only be doing this in what he saw as a misguided attempt to say - look i got this stuff so your system is compromised you need to fix it - but isnt that asking for trouble ? the company no doubt already feels foolish at having the flaw pointed out so if they find you possess data taken from them they are going to get pissed and try and cover their asses by accusing the user of hacking their systems - the onus of proof then reverts back to him.

    Finding the flaw - good thing
    Taking file - dumb thing

    Does this guy have anything else in his background that would interest the DOJ in him ?? before we simply condemn the company and govt maybe we need to find out if he has a history of cracking systems ? and why was he trying that doot ? (just postulating BUUT) was it that he was looking for a hole for other reasons - found it and maybe got worried he might be caught later so he announced the hole to the company to try and make himself look good ?

    I dont know - personally im a IT manager and spend money to keep people out of my systems, that means i dont like the 'just trying to find if you have any holes in your system' excuse - i pay consultants for that and i would consider that anyone looking for an open door to be up to no good - this company wasnt a high profile target and if i was the law and the IS manager at the other company i would be asking what one of my competitors would be doing trying to see if i had any holes in my system - i would immediately suspect corporate espionage (it happens dont laugh) and call in the cops as well.

    I think he may have done a silly thing for whatever reasons - but i also wonder if he is being completely honest?

    --
    I refuse to argue with Anonymous Cowards - if you want a discussion get an account....
  35. And further by q-soe · · Score: 2

    Read this

    http://www.bkw.org/pdf/stigler-news-hack.pdf

    this issue is more than the newspaper - he is accused (and looks like he admitted it) of hacking into a bank and looking at client account balances etc - the guys screwed sorry

    Also he hacked into the newpapers site on a rival web hosting company - he was trying to get the newspapers business and no doubt thought he could poke holes in the other company security thus making them look incompetent and getting him the business - this is a stupid move and guaranteed to fail - instead he got jammed and i would not be surpised if he finds his company on the receivin end of a civil lawsuit for his actions - which can only be determined at undermining the business of the other company.

    Also when he gets caught he then places his story on websites in a way which is deigned to garner the voluble support of the free source and white hat community - it looks (IMHO) like a simple attempt to cover himself with support (ala dimitri) of the voluble community who he expected i think to defend him.

    A bit of reasearch proves this guy is in trouble because he deserves it - once you start hacking into banks you gurantee deepshit if you get caught (and the bank he hacked appears to have Federal Deposit Insurance thus he committed a federal crime) You cannot hack into banks just to check their security or look around.

    Maybe this is a lesson to all the would be white hats out there - just because you can doesnt mean you should

    Now im dont want to look like im trolling - i would defend the guy if he was in the right - so please understand me when i say that this person deserves no support from our community

    --
    I refuse to argue with Anonymous Cowards - if you want a discussion get an account....
    1. Re:And further by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now im dont want to look like im trolling


      Don't worry, man. It looks more like you are
      just confused, or maybe way drunk, and just
      unable to put two thoughts together.

    2. Re:And further by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ohh look a real life troll

      Don't worry, man. It looks more like you are
      just confused, or maybe way drunk, and just
      unable to put two thoughts together

      Naah i think youre stoned

  36. GCC is *not* ISO C++ compliant. by rjh · · Score: 2

    It still doesn't support the export keyword.

    This is no big slight on GCC, because to the best of my knowledge, no other compiler implements export either. Still, it's wrong to claim GCC is ISO C++ compliant. It's not.

  37. Clockless is not impossible. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 2
    Each subsystem may have its own clock, but the subsystems are so assembled so they can run asychronously.

    It sounds like they're talking about an asynchronous design.

    There are two major styles of logic design: synchronous and asynchronous.

    In a synchronous design you have a large number of edge-triggered D-type flip-flops driven by a common clock. This may be all the flip-flops on the chip, or the chip may be divided into several "clock domains", each with all the flip-flops driven by a common clock.

    Only edge-triggered D flip-flops are used.

    The flip-flops' C inputs are only driven by the domain's clock - never by combinatorial logic (except for combinatorial logic responsible for enabling/disabling a domain's clock.)

    D inputs are driven by combinatorial logic from their own and other flip-flops' Q and not-Q outputs and from input pads.

    Set and reset inputs are unused, except perhaps for system reset.

    Combinatorial logic may not contain loops (which would oscilate if they contain an odd number of inversions, be bistable {implied R/S flip-flops} with an even number of inversions).

    Propogation of a signal through the slowest path in combinatorial logic from one flop's output to another's input is enough less than one clock period that the flop's input will be "set up" properly by the next clock edge after the one which changed the driving output.

    Synchronous designs tend to be orginized into pipelines - alternate layers of flops and combinatorial logic. Timing is tightly controlled and special care is taken at clock domain boundaries. Clock speed is limited by the "critical path" - the slowest path in the slowest pipeline stage.

    Asynchronous logic is essentially any logic that violates one or more of the above rules. For example:

    A flip-flop's C input may be driven from another flip-flop's Q or not-Q output or from combinatorial logic. (Canonical example: a ripple counter.)

    R/S or J/K flip-flops or D latches may be used.

    Set or reset inputs may be used for significant functionality during normal operation.

    Propagation time of a signal through combinatorial logic may be semantically significant. "Races" may be deliberately created to produce desired effects, including oscilating timing loops.

    Asynchronous designs are characterized by waves of state-change propagating through the logic at the logic's maximum speed, and lack of state-change when nothing interesting is happening. Asynchronous includes a hybrid approach, with large waterfalls of asynchronous circuitry occasionally hitting a register and resynchronizing with a clock ala the layer of D flops at the end of a synchronous pipeline stage.

    Most large digital chips and systems today are designed using the easier synchronous style. It allows the use of a number of powerful tools to automate the design process and to automatically generate programs for the machines that test each chip as it comes off the fab. (In a synchronous design it's easy to add a multiplexer to tie some or all of the flops into a set of shift-register "scan chains". These let the tester stop the chip, shift out all the state, shift in a new state, and restart the chip.)

    But asynchronous designs, though harder to do properly, have a couple major advantages:

    In a synchronous design several of the gates in each flop are switching all the time. CMOS logic mostly consumes power when it switches, so power consumption is mostly proportioinal to clock speed. In a good asynchronous design the state only changes when information is being processed, and only as necessary. Power consumption is mostly proportional to work done, and can easily be a factor of ten lower than an equivalent synchronous design.

    Synchronous designs run as fast as their component logic is capable of running.

    Automated fabrication testing of asynchronous designs is harder, though there is (or once was) a method to do this: the "Cross Check Array" and the associated test automation tools (which can also deal with synchronous designs at less overhead than fullscan). But Cross Check's technology never caught on in the US. They merged into another company some years ago and I don't know if their technology is available to anybody but Sony - who invested early in return for an unlimited license and was using it throughout their chips as of the Play Station 1 generation.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  38. GCC: C++ = internal error, aborting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL. I was using exception handling under commercial Borland and Microsoft compilers for over a year while gcc was having internal errors and aborting on that same code. Things have been much better in recent history but blanket statements such as yours are misinformed.

  39. async chips by Proud+Geek · · Score: 2

    Asynchronous cpu's have been around for several years. There are async ARM's available, IIRC. The advantages are usually less in speed and more in reduced power consumption (from the large clock line) and reduced radio interference, which can be important on mixed digital-analog devices like mobile phones.

    Really, twice the speed of current devices isn't that impressive; Intel already has p4's operating that fast in their labs.

    --

    Even Slashdot wants to hide some things

  40. Thoughts on FLEETZero by TrentSeigfried · · Score: 1

    The pdf at Sun Research given in the article above seems to be just presentation fodder rather than real research. After digging around the Sun Research site, I came across this page which details their public papers on asynchronous design with some badly broken HTML. Viewing the source and picking through the pieces, I found a much better summary of FLEETZero . The conclusion and future works section is particularly interesting, especially the part about FLOTILLA (a number of FLEET processors working in conjunction) and the potential limitations of the architecture. Well worth reading.

    --
    Trent Seigfried
    devolver at iastate dot edu
  41. On the contrary ... by taniwha · · Score: 1
    While they have no clock you can cool the hell out of this stuff and see it speed up - pouring the LN2 into the top of the game box as your quake game play starts to get intense might be a good idea

    BTW - there was a great paper about 10 years back out of Caltech where a bunch of students built an async cpu and the did exactly this - cooling it way down and finding it worked faster the colder they get

    1. Re:On the contrary ... by Nanookanano · · Score: 1

      What would be the term for this?
      "Cryogenizing"?
      "Thermoconducting"?
      What?

      --
      "..don't you eat that yellow snow."
  42. GCC is a viral program! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    GCC is GPL'd and was built with the previous version of GCC. This means that all standard header files included with GCC have been infected with the GPL, so any program with compiled with GCC will also be infected with the GPL (Microsoft was right!!!).

    You may think I'm a troll, but if GCC can claim that the standard headers are excluded from the GPL'd portion, then GPL is powerless since anyone could include GPL code but arbitrarily say that it doesn't apply to all of the code.

    1. Re:GCC is a viral program! by hyphz · · Score: 1

      Actually, there's a specific GPL variant (GLPL) which covers libraries and similar and reduces the viral effect, precisely so that this bifurcation doesn't arise.

  43. Re:I wouldn't upgrade to GCC 3.01 quite yet, reaso by ozbon · · Score: 1

    And close the link properly - should've used that Preview button!!!

    --
    I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
  44. gcc -finline-limit: not so simple by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 2

    Several people on the GCC list have tried to optimize -finline-limit, and they have come to very different conclusions. It totally depend on the application. Setting it to 5000 may very well slow the resulting code a lot compared to the default. Try for youself.

    Basically, the inline code have been rewritten in 3.0 (to work on trees instead rtl), which gives a lot more oppertunities for inlining and for further optimizations. However, the old heuristics for inlining have not been adopted to the new code, which means way to much code is inlined in 3.0, which again means much slower compile times, fatter binaries, and even slower binaries because of more cache misses.

    In 3.0.1 the inline limit was set down to cure the worst symptoms. However, what is really needed is new heuristics, which will be in 3.1.

  45. About a day. by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 2

    I have one source file which takes almost a day to compile with 3.0 at -O3. It isn't particular long (2k lines) or advanced. The rest of the project (~150 files) takes maybe 6 hours to compile. I don't know why that file is hit so hard.

    In any case, I switched back to 2.95. SUre, I cpmile without optimization most of the time, but I like at least to test the program with optimization once or twice a week, to catch any bugs that are only triggered by the optimizer.

    Obviously, a day (or even 6 hours) is not acceptable in those circumstances.

  46. They are _not_ optimising for speed of compiler by Per+Abrahamsen · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are three issues

    1. Speed of compiler.
    2. Size of generated code.
    3. Speed of generated code.

    When comparing gcc 2.95 and gcc 3.0 with regard to inlining alone, the gcc 3.0 inliner is worse on all three counts. They changed the inliner to apply earlier (at the tree level instead of at the rtl level), which gives it far more oppertunities for inlining. This results (for C++ that uses STL) in order of magnitude slower compiles, several times larger binaries, and, because of cache misses and pipelining issues, significantly slower executables.

    The problem is that the old inlining heuristics doesn't work with the new (and potentially much better) inliner. As a band-aid, they decreased one of the old parameters in 3.0.1, the inline limit. This avoids the huge compile times and binaries, but also sometimes misses important inlines. Exactly when you get the important inlines, but without the ridiculous inlines, depend on the application. Sometimes you can't.

    For 3.1 the GCC developers will install all new inlining heuristics, which will hopefully be consistently better than 2.95. The potential is there with the new tree-based inliner.

    In hindsight, it was probably a mistake to release gcc 3.0 before without the new inline heuristics, however 3.0 was already delayed, and is much better for most code.

  47. over my head? by onShore_Jake · · Score: 1

    Could someone explain the Time to get a yardstick near the refrigerator line?
    /me watches it fly right over his head

  48. What analogy? by fm6 · · Score: 2

    Perhaps I should have made my point clearer. But nowhere do I mention what specific electronic transactions are analogous to trespass and which ones are not. My point was that the analogy is not as simple as people like to think it is. This is true of people on boths sides of the debate.

  49. A legit key to an apartment complex without doors by Rares+Marian · · Score: 1

    Giving someone a legit apartment key (personal not site admin login) to an apartment complex (said site) without doors (to protect other sites from users) does not a cracker make.

    --
    The message on the other side of this sig is false.
  50. knocking shops by Gonoff · · Score: 1

    And how many does it have now?

    --
    I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.