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Re: logxxx and bignums



> > I'd be really happy to see Guile using gmp, even if bignum arithmetic
> > performance fell slightly, because it would take a lot of maintenance
> > hassle out of Guile itself.
> 
> At least for 'bigger' bignums, gmp can be expected to be _way_ faster than
> guiles implementation.  The gmp folks have implemented their core routines
> in assembly language on a lot of major computing platforms.  Further,
> they use sophisticated algorithms to get the best possible performance.
> 
> However, for bignums that consist of just a few words, there may be a
> performance penalty.

When I talked to Aubrey Jaffer about this, he said that he had
implemented his own bignum package (even though GMP already existed),
because his implementation has less allocation overhead.

Per Bothner says, however, that GMP has two interfaces: one that
handles allocation for you, and a second, more primitive interface,
that leaves you fully responsible for all allocation.  So perhaps
Aubrey's concerns can be addressed.

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