Who's up for a real challenge?

[Blitz]

Well, sure it would work, if yyou changed the loop a little. But that wouldn't give 1/10 the performance of my loops.

[relsoft]

Blitz: How much speed difference? Which was faster? Man, that masking thingy is kool!!!!

[Blitz]

The sram loop is allot faster then ugls 386 loop. And the vram loop is basically the same.

[LooseCaboose]

Like I said it would depend on the compiler and the optomizations flags used, but a hand written asm version would probably still beat it, I could make it slightly faster with register keywords on the variables and some more tidying.

I just like the C version better, because its far more portable and flexible. Coding graphics in asm is okay for a hobby, but most new graphics cards have hardware blitters (and most other functions too) so learning how to write one in asm for a 486 does seem kind of pointless to me, however as always you have churned out some truely impressive code :lol:

[Blitz]

Good asm code is an art. And in the game industry, it always has been and will be very important.

[Blitz]

Also, knowing asm is very useful even when using high level languages. You'd think compilers generate stable code, but that's not always the case with for instance watcom or borland. By dissasembling it i can see exactly what it does and find out where the bug is.

Or when i'm trying to get a certain loop to run as fast as possible, i usally tinker with the loop and dissassemble it until i find a code the makes the compiler generate as good code as it can (which always suxs pretty much).

Knowing asm makes a better high level coder as well, since you know how the computer works you know how to code optimal code.

So i don't agree, it will always be important. There's a huge difference between knowing asm and being good at it. DQB is the perfect example of why some people should just stick to compilers.

[Blitz]

So who won?

[relsoft]

Digs up his ancient plaque and gives it to Blitz....

[Blitz]

Looking through old posts, this place was much more fun 2 years ago.

[KiZ]

Get over it already.

Most of the pros left.

Most of the new pros are into non-demo related stuff. Its just the way it develops. Demo, GFX and game programming arent real big anymore. There is no point in creating high speed blitters or any of that stuff, it would be reinventing the wheel.

Stop bitching because you feel nostalgic looking at this thread.

(Bitching might have been to harsh a word, sorry.)