SIMD, SSE2 and all that Jazz

[charliec2uk]

When INTC claims to have implemented 144 new instructions for a streamlined floating point unit, what exactly does that imply for programmers. I mean in assembler (using the Microchip corp. IC's) there are only 35 instructions.
So does this mean that there are new commands thatcan used to write code or does this mean that the SSE2 optimized compiler take a set of commands and interpret those in a single, shorter, yet previously unavailable piece of machine code? Or that the coder has the option of 144 new commands?

Must go faster, must go faster,
Heck, processors fried...

 

[Raystonn]

The assembly coder or C/C++/etc compiler has the option to use new instructions.

-Raystonn


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