Core, wot a brain scorcher
THE LATEST breed of multi-core chips is hardly being taxed because software developers haven't written code that uses them properly.
According to the
New York Times, the big software outfits are sitting around trying to work out how to use all this nifty dual and quad core power bought to them by the likes of Intel and AMD.
Apparently, Microsoft is getting close, probably aware that its software will be toast if some smart-arsed open source person beats them to it.
Parallel processing apparently requires complex software that breaks code into bite-sized chunks that the different processors can run. The job is getting more tricky as eight core processors loom above the horizon like a school of Great White sharks.
Yet the developers still have not worked out a way to pen decent parallel programs.
The
Times quotes Berkley boffin David Patterson as saying that the whole industry is betting on parallel processing but the software people have not worked out how to catch the ball and run with it. Neither have they worked out how to cross the line, touch down or pass the ball. In fact when it comes to (American) football analogies they are playing badminton.
The hardware people have known this will be a problem for four decades, but stuck it into the someone else will sort out the problem basket.
The Vole has apparently hired some of the best minds in the field. Rather than keeping them in jars, pickled as it usually does, it has wired them together to have a crack at rewriting its software so that it can run multi-core better.
If the Volish brain's trust crack it, that sort of code could be on the market in three years. We are not holding our breath.
More
here.
The INQuirer