Scott MacMaster wrote:
It seems to me that you misunderstood what Mat said about improving algorithms before making smaller optimizations.
You seem to be talking about the choice of algorithm. A software based algorithm compared to a hardware based algorithm (MMX/SSE). Anyone who knows anything about the difference between the two would know the hardware algorithm would be better.
Mat appears to be talking about higher level 'control' algorithms. If you had a really bad algorithm for determining when windows need to update, what parts of the screen to update, and how often to update it won't matter much how fast you alpha_blending algorithm is.
Example: First Revision of code has bad control algorithm that calls alpha_blending algorithm 10,000 times a second - optimizing of alpha_blending algorithm (possibly by switching to MMX) results in 10% improvement - rewriting of control algorithm (so it now calls alpha_blending algorithm 100 times a second) results in 100% improvement.
The example is somewhat contrived but I feel it's an accurate example of my point. Basically, use MMX/SSE but I (and others) highly recommend trying to optimize your control algorithm first.
I got what Mat said. It seems like you are missing the point too. (IMO)
Adi.
