RE: [gnugo-devel] MAX_LIBERTIES

[Portela Fernando]

Hi,

Something like 1 or 2 months ago, I've been working on a related idea
about improving cache locality. Since the team seemed to be focused
on getting 3.6 out, I didn't bother submitting a patch. The basic idea
is simple : split the string_data array. Something like following 

struct string_data {
  int color;
  int size;
  int origin;
  int liberties;
  int neighbors;
  int mark;
};

struct string_liberties_data {
  int list[MAX_LIBERTIES];
};

struct string_neighbors_data {
  int list[MAXCHAIN];
};

proved to be effective on "standard" P4-based platforms (both for Linux
and Windows builds) by about the same boost : around 1%. Questions are :
would it help or could it even degrade performance on other platforms ?

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't followed the latest
developments very closely, but I guess I can easily rediff against
current CVS if someone is interested. 

-- nando