faster bcopy using duffs device (so

[BEAR at S34.Prime.COM]

>In article <19491 at mimsy.UUCP> chris at mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
>                 This, if nothing else, tells why gcc cannot be used to
>compile C code for a Prime (32 bit word pointers, 48 bit char pointers).
>(In fact, gcc assumes internally that sizeof(any-pointer) == sizeof(int)
>and that all pointers are `byte pointers', as far as I can tell.)

FYI, this is not necessarily true. Without going into lots of details,
our 32IX mode C compiler uses 32 bit pointers for *everything*. This
compiler has been available for about 6 years and can be used on any
of our current 50-series processors. Older machines (shipped before
1983, non-IX mode) do indeed require 48 bit pointers to address anything
smaller than a halfword (the 48 bit pointers are actually bit pointers!).

Bob Beckwith
Prime Computer, Inc.
(508)879-2960 x 4209
bear at s34.prime.com