RE: how many memset(,0,) calls in kernel ?

From: David Laight
Date: Mon Sep 13 2021 - 12:03:43 EST


> 36: b9 06 00 00 00 mov $0x6,%ecx
> 3b: 4c 89 e7 mov %r12,%rdi
> 3e: f3 ab rep stos %eax,%es:(%rdi)
>
> The last line does exactly "memset(%rdi, %eax, %ecx)". Just two bytes
> for some code that modern processors are even able to optimize.

Hmmm I'd bet that 6 stores will be faster on ~everything.
'modern' processors do better than some older ones [1], but 6
writes isn't enough to get into the really fast paths.
So you'll still take a few cycles of setup.

[1] P4 netburst had a ~40 clock setup for any 'rep' operation.

David

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