Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
- NAVIGON AG - True GPS Software for the iPhone from NAVIGON Inc., 89.99
- Tweetie 2 from atebits, $2.99
- Snood: Flawed Casual Play from Electronic Arts, US$3.99
Premier Sponsors
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Once More, with Feeling
- Various Artists
Most musical episodes of TV shows frankly stink. They are usually little more than ill-conceived vehicles intended to let the stars show off what musical talent they have. Once More, With Feeling,
- Prefuse 73
- It's an album about a breakup, done with beats instead of mopey lyrics. But the beats are raw, and the emotions are there, even if there aren't many words on top of it. While possibly not Scott Herren
- Death Cab for Cutie
With the introduction of Plans, Death Cab for Cutie became a new addition to many user's Artist list after the single "Soul Meets Body" became a hit on iTunes. Offering a fresh alternativ
- Nine Inch Nails
In the sprawling post-A&R rock and roll world, there are two camps: the Beatles and the Stones. The Beatles are the artists that like to explore, evolve, and change styles. The Stones are the artis
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
- Arctic Monkeys
Get on your dancing shoes
You sexy little swine
-Arctic
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
News
An iPhone Performance Secret: LLVM
Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 2:00 PM - by John Martellaro
Apple has found a way to achieve amazing graphics speed a shirt pocket device, the iPhone, by using a special form of code optimization called "Low Level Virtual Machine," (LLVM) according to graphics and algorithms specialist Charles Ying.
Mr. Ying wrote Thursday that Apple has taken the approach of using its expertise in Mac OS X, OpenGL, and code optimization via LLVM in the development in the iPhone.
Small personal electronics that can fit in your pocket are always short of the electrical power required for fast video processing. And yet Apple has demonstrated very impressive graphics capabilities with the iPhone. The key is extensive code optimization at every stage, from the CPU to the graphics system, from compile to runtime, and that can be done with LLVM.
Because the iPhone is running "OS X," a variant of Mac OS X, Apple can take advantage of their expertise in OpenGL graphics used by Mac OS X to achieve the amazing scrolling feature and finger resizing of graphics of the iPhone. But any interpreted interface, like OpenGL would have to be highly optimized to achieve that kind of performance in a small device. With LLVM, the programmer can enable program optimization in every realm: compile, link, and even at runtime.
Apple has taken several steps to achieve this. Apple has quietly contributed ARM enhancements to LLVM. Secondly, LLVM has been integrated with Apple's primary compiler in Xcode, called gcc.
When all is said and done, Apple has achieved a highly optimized OS X and Open GL code base that can exploit Core Animation on an ARM processor.
This is very likely why Apple chose to use "OS X" in the iPhone and how Apple can achieve amazing graphics in a shirt pocket device with limited electrical power.
Recent Headlines
- Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
- Apple May Be Bringing RFID to the iPhone
Post Your Comments