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0 pointscrucialfelix10y ago0 comments

yes. developers will be able to submit apps as LLVM Bitcode which means that Apple can switch to ARM for some new device and recompile the app without the developer having to resubmit it.

It also means the end of Universal binaries as Apple can thin the compiled app for each target device.

the PPC switch over was painful, as was the 32 versus 64 bit era. They want to avoid that in the future.

0 comments

pg31410y ago

At the moment LLVM bit code generated by Clang is still architecture dependent (e.g. sizeof() still generates code that depends on the architecture).

willvarfar10y ago

But modern CPUs are all converging on 64-bits, for example.

Use of SIMD intrinsics are a tougher nut, but I've actually been playing with them at an IR level for hobby stuff and I declare its not intractable.

mappu10y ago

Converging on 64-bit CPUs doesn't mean converging on standard `sizeof()` values (c.f. windows x86_64 ABI is LLP64 but linux x86_64 ABI is LP64)

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crucialfelixOP10y ago

true, I didn't mean that it would solve a future 32 v 64 problem.

delinka10y ago

"the PPC switch over was painful"

How so? I recall it being amazingly painless.

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