Re: module efficiency

Richard Henderson (richard@atheist.tamu.edu)
Mon, 13 Jan 1997 11:18:11 -0600 (CST)

> I was wondering if there is any difference in speed or efficiency
> between compiled-in drivers and modular drivers.

It depends on the architechture.

For the i386 things are the same, but on, for example, the Alpha
modules must use a different value for the GP register, which
inhibits some optimizations that we could otherwise make. And
the 4MB range limit on the bsr instruction means we must call
through pointers with jsr.

r~