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digitalmars.D.learn - Systems programming

reply "Andreas Kochenburger" <akk privat.de> writes:
Is D really suitable for systems programming, despite its inline assembler?

What is the smallest executable size in Win or Linux?

Where can I find a minimum stub?

Andreas
-----
Beware of mad dogs and retired state employees.
Sep 14 2006
next sibling parent reply clayasaurus <clayasaurus gmail.com> writes:
Andreas Kochenburger wrote:

 Is D really suitable for systems programming, despite its inline assembler?
 
 What is the smallest executable size in Win or Linux?
 
 Where can I find a minimum stub?


The smallest exe size I got on win with dmd v.166 is 65 KB using

---
int main()
{
   return 0;
}
---
Sep 14 2006
parent reply "Andreas Kochenburger" <akk privat.de> writes:
"clayasaurus" <clayasaurus gmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
news:eecf69$1p6n$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 The smallest exe size I got on win with dmd v.166 is 65 KB using

 ---
 int main()
 {
   return 0;
 }


I would guess this is due to some statical linkage.
In theory the exe should not be larger than a few k, depending on the PE 
header structure, but I am no expert in that.
Andreas
Sep 15 2006
parent Pragma <ericanderton yahoo.removeme.com> writes:
Andreas Kochenburger wrote:

 "clayasaurus" <clayasaurus gmail.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag 
 news:eecf69$1p6n$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 The smallest exe size I got on win with dmd v.166 is 65 KB using

 ---
 int main()
 {
   return 0;
 }


 
 I would guess this is due to some statical linkage.
 In theory the exe should not be larger than a few k, depending on the PE 
 header structure, but I am no expert in that.
 Andreas 
 
 


You'd be correct in that guess.  Near as I can tell, nobody has tried 
unpacking the rudimentary libs that DMD (windows) tends to link in: 
phobos.lib and snn.lib.

I bet that if you unpack those lib files, and feed only the .obj files 
needed to the linker, you'd end up with a smaller program.  Either that, 
or there's a design flaw in the D runtime that pulls in a *lot* of 
un-needed code.

(I seem to recall a debate between Walter and Kris on that very topic a 
while back... I think printf could be the culprit.)

-- 
- EricAnderton at yahoo
Sep 15 2006
prev sibling parent Pragma <ericanderton yahoo.removeme.com> writes:
Andreas Kochenburger wrote:

 Is D really suitable for systems programming, despite its inline assembler?


I think so.  D takes on some bloat due to the GC support and TypeInfo. 
I'd consider those fair trade-offs as you probably wouldn't be using D 
if not at least for the GC.


 Where can I find a minimum stub?


Andreas, have you given Ares a try yet?  I think that comprises the most 
minimal stub for D so far:

http://www.dsource.org/projects/ares

Granted, this will likely net you the largest gains on the Windows side 
of the house.

Aside from that, there's probably some gains to be made with GDC, and 
playing around with GCC's optimizations and whatnot, but I'm a complete 
n00b in that area. :(

-- 
- EricAnderton at yahoo
Sep 14 2006