dolfin team mailing list archive

[Matthew Knepley <knepley@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 7:09 AM, A Navaei <axnavaei@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 2009/3/23 Garth N. Wells <gnw20@xxxxxxxxx>:
> >
> >
> > A Navaei wrote:
> >>
> >> The success of MTL4 based on generic meta-programming, arises the
> >> question about re-visiting the efficiency of code-generation
> >> approaches, including FFC. Given that FEM can particularly benefit
> >> from major meta-programming characteristics, namely static
> >> polymorphism and loop unrolling, MTL4 demonstrates that the
> >> code-generation part can be much more efficiently replaced by inlining
> >> performed at compile-time.
> >>
> >
> > What FFC and other code generators do is a form of metaprogramming, so I
> > don't see what point you're trying to make.
>
> As mentioned above, we are talking about compile-time implicit inline
> code generation which is opposed to explicit code generation as done
> by FFC -- refer to MTL publications.


I am going to agree with Garth here. There is no real difference. MTL4
uses the template engine to generate code. FFC uses Python. However,
both approaches only generate C++ code. They can be made equivalent
for any given problem. I am fairly sure the MTL guys would agree. I know
them very well.

   Matt


>
> -Ali
>
> >
> > Garth
> >
> >> Without having a concrete meta-programming implementation, it may be
> >> impossible to predict how much performance one would gain compared to
> >> FFC. However, MTL4 has been reported to be many times faster than
> >> code-generation means such as ATLAS.
> >>
> >> Based on this, are there any specific benefits in FFC code-generation
> >> which may not be covered by meta-programming?
> >>
> >>
> >> -Ali
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> DOLFIN-dev mailing list
> >> DOLFIN-dev@xxxxxxxxxx
> >> http://www.fenics.org/mailman/listinfo/dolfin-dev
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> DOLFIN-dev mailing list
> DOLFIN-dev@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.fenics.org/mailman/listinfo/dolfin-dev
>



-- 
What most experimenters take for granted before they begin their experiments
is infinitely more interesting than any results to which their experiments
lead.
-- Norbert Wiener