GCC 3.3.1 Released

Wiz writes "The latest and greatest version of gcc is now out - v3.3.1! As an update to the current version, it is bug fixes only. You can find the list of changes here and you can download it from their mirror sites. Enjoy!"

Comments

Here's a table

[mec]

A little google whoring turns this up:

GCC Compilation Comparison

The rumors have some foundation. For one particular C program, on one particular machine, at the particular optimization level of -O2:

gcc 3.0.4 takes 28% more time than gcc 2.95.3
gcc 3.1.1 takes 24% more time than gcc 3.0.4
gcc 3.2.3 takes 7% more time than gcc 3.1.1
gcc 3.3 takes 5% more time than gcc 3.2.3
gcc 3.4* takes 6% more time than gcc 3.3
gcc 3.5* takes 9% more time than gcc 3.4*

The "3.4*" and "3.5*" are cvs versions as of a certain date, as these versions are far from release.

Here are some release dates:

2001-03-22 gcc 2.95.3
2002-02-21 gcc 3.0.4
2002-07-26 gcc 3.1.1
2003-04-23 gcc 3.2.3
2003-05-14 gcc 3.3

Correlating these:

gcc 3.0.4, 11 months, 28%
gcc 3.1.1, 5 months, 24%
gcc 3.2.3, 9 months, 5%

The next gcc will be gcc 3.3.2 and it is estimated for October 1. If it meets that date, and if it continues to have the same performance as gcc 3.3 and gcc 3.3.1, then that would be: 4 months, 5%.

If you use Moore's Law to estimate processor speed then your CPU is getting 100% faster every 18 months, or 4% faster per month. So in the period from 2.95.3 to 3.1.1 gcc was getting slower about the same rate as processors were getting faster. Since 3.1.1, gcc is getting slower at just 1% a month or so, and processors are getting faster at 4% a month.

Refinements to my model welcomed.

As far the trade-off goes: "compile speed" is one dimension and "new and cool features" is another dimension and "object code speed" is yet another dimension. There is no universal answer about trade-offs between dimensions, you just have to make the decision yourself.