[Shootout-list] fannkuch

[Jon Harrop]

On Monday 23 May 2005 20:31, Brent Fulgham wrote:
> --- Bengt Kleberg <bengt.kleberg@ericsson.com> wrote:
> > On 2005-05-20 19:23, Brent Fulgham wrote:
> > ...deleted
> >
> > > But you are right -- our runtimes are probably
> > > low enough that we are encountering measurement
> > > noise.
> >
> > that could be quantified if we find out the
> > granularity of the timer.
>
> Here some info that might belong in the FAQ:
> ...

Note that there may be larger sources of noise than the granularity of the 
timer, such as GC. Running the Mlton implementation of the ray tracer here (a 
computer similar to that used for the shootout) I get a 0.05s error with a 
1.3s run-time. Other things, like float alignment can make a huge difference 
(although I've only seen this on AMD64).

Certainly with OCaml programs, I've seen +/- 0.25s error for 5s run-time 
programs.

-- 
Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog Consultancy Ltd.
Objective CAML for Scientists
http://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/ocaml_for_scientists