[PD] Academic question about AMD64 and audio

Mathieu Bouchard matju at artengine.ca
Tue Aug 23 23:40:20 CEST 2005


On Tue, 23 Aug 2005, thewade wrote:

> If that is the case (and I believe it is) will some PD code guru PLEASE
> get arrays to behave correctly in 64-bit PD? I don't see this problem
> ever going away, will it? At least without a code fix?

From the last pd-dev meeting on IRC.freenode.net #dataflow :

gige> one related topic is the 64 bit problem with arrays, or is this 
already fixed 
matju> gige: it's related and afaik not fixed
msp> fixed...?  I don't know what to do about it at all.
msp> ... Oh you mean the bugs.  I thought you meant the deeper problem...
gige> i think its not really bugs, its deeper
matju> msp: the bugs ARE the deeper problem too
matju> msp: unless we're talking about other bugs ?
msp> I don't know how to fix the bugs until I get a 64 bit machine (RSN).
msp> Deeper problem is, do we really want "array" and "table" to be 64 
bit?
matju> msp: you need to distinguish between float arrays and word arrays.
matju> msp: ... which is part of the same problem as for pd video.
msp> Correct.  At the moment, they are word arrays. Perhaps float should 
be an option on the same level as RGBA 8-bit, etc.
msp> There will be complaints for years, of course, if I don't somehow 
figure out how to make it coherent and extensible.
msp> ... and of course, the "correct" way is to make Pd itself polymorphic 
WRT data type.
matju> msp: just add a type tag just like GridFlow does with its grids
matju> msp: GridFlow's got types: uint8 int16 int32 int64 float32 float64
msp> Yep.  The threshold I'm afraid to cross is letting the data types 
work outside the "table/array" object.
matju> msp: what do you mean "outside"?
msp> For instance, having to rewrite "+" to handle n data types.  
msp> That might preferably wait for whatever succeeds Pd.
msp> (Of course you can make that argument for _any_ proposed extension :)
matju> msp: your problem with Athlon64 is that sizeof(t_word) != 
sizeof(t_float) because sizeof(void*)==8. well you have exactly the same 
problem on Itanium, Alpha, MIPS64, UltraSparc, and almost all other 64-bit 
archs

And then it drifted towards discussion of polymorphism.

But then it had drifted from discussion of Miller's own video system (I 
mean separate from GEM, PDP, GridFlow, FrameStein and Mapod)

> I dont know enough about code to find out myself, but dont arrays have
> callbacks?

I don't think I know the thing that you call a callback.

> Wouldnt it be a simple as changing the typedef for the elements of an
> array,

No, because there are other kinds of arrays that don't use floats, but
instead use symbols and pointers, which are 64-bit on an AMD64, while
regular floats are 32-bit. (There are 64-bit floats, but Pd doesn't use
them). And then there is a lot of code that supposes an array is made from
t_words, and a t_word is an "union" of float,symbol,pointer, so its size
is the size of the greatest possibility.

> Its just sad that I cant use my 64-bit machine in 64-bit mode.

You're not the only one to be sad. Fortunately, I have a solution for you!
Just give me an Athlon64 desktop computer and I will fix the problem. :-)
 
My address is:

Mathieu Bouchard
8257, Saint-Denis
Montréal, QC
Canada H2P 2G7

Alternately, you can send me a large enough donation. The exchange rate is 
currently 1.19742 CAD/USD.

____________________________________________________________________
Mathieu Bouchard - tél:+1.514.383.3801 - http://artengine.ca/matju
Freelance Digital Arts Engineer, Montréal QC Canada




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