[1916] in comp.os.os2.announce archive
SOFTWARE: DEVELOPMENT: LXOPT v1.21 (optimizing tool)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mike Ruddy)
Sat Sep 28 18:47:32 1996
To: os2ann.DISCUSS@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Date: 28 Sep 1996 21:05:04 GMT
From: funcsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk (Mike Ruddy)
Reply-To: funcsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-to: funcsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk
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Sept 26 1996
FUNCTIONAL SOFTWARE LTD UPGRADES STATE OF THE ART DEVELOPMENT TOOL AND
ANNOUNCES FREE VERSION.
Functional Software Ltd announces today the release of LXOPT V1.21, the latest
version of its memory-saving development tool for OS/2 application developers.
Available immediately for UKP125/US$195 LXOPT uses its unique assembler-level
tuning ability to halve an application's code memory use.
The memory savings result from LXOPT's ability to recompile existing
executables, generating new code arrangements that are designed to minimize
application paging. LXOPT records an applications code use at runtime and uses
this information to allocate each processor instruction to its optimal memory
page. The result is a typical halving of the total code pages loaded and a
paging reduction of up to 95% in low memory conditions. Traditional
compilers/linkers are unable to perform this type of optimization as they lack
one vital ingredient: knowledge of runtime code use.
"Although developers understand paging issues, they rarely stop to consider
that memory use is measured not by code size but the number of those 4Kb pages
that are actually loaded," says Mike Ruddy the designer and author of LXOPT.
"Modern programming methods produce extremely inefficient code layouts, a dozen
pages may be loaded to execute only a few hundred bytes of actual processor
instructions. Users' machines are spending their time paging when they could
be doing useful work. LXOPT is designed to address this problem and saves
significant amounts of memory in the process."
These benefits are becoming apparent to an increasing number of OS/2 developers
worldwide:
Frank Bell at Lotus Development Corp evaluated LXOPT on the latest version of
WordPro. "Easy to use, LXOPT is a powerful tool for optimizing an application's
working set. I highly recommend it to developers who want to squeeze the
maximum performance from their applications."
Richard G. Riley at POINT Information Systems, Dublin also uses LXOPT. "LXOPT
was a REAL eye opener. Actually does what it promises in a simple, easy-to-use
manner. I was very impressed."
Martin Hollmichel at Star Division GmbH in Hamburg recently discovered what
LXOPT is capable of: "I have optimized our biggest application (StarWriter) and
most of our Dlls. The startup time decreased about 40%. THAT IS FANTASTIC
!!!!!"
Greg Hutchison at ImageStat Corp. was one of the first to discover LXOPT and
perhaps summed it up best at the top of his registration form: "It's a *great*
product."
LXOPT V1.21 also optimizes code loading related disk accesses and CPU
instruction cache use. Additional utilities include tools to apply/remove
EXE/DLL file page compression (exepack:2) and an executable preloader to
further reduce application startup times. The demonstration version is
available at "ftp://ftp-os2.cdrom.com/pub/os2/demos/lxopt121.zip" (currently in
os2/incoming) and on Compuserve as LXOPT121.ZIP in the "Development Tools"
library of IBMDF1.
LXOPT requires a PC running OS/2 V2.x or later. FixPak 11 or later is
recommended for WARP users. EXE files will normally require relinking. Minimum
recommended memory requirements are approximately 10 times the size of the code
to be processed. Only 32 bit code is processed. LXOPT is compiler/language
independent. EXE/DLL files are processed directly, no source code is altered.
FREE VERSION
============
OS/2 developers may now use LXOPT free of charge. The demonstration version of
LXOPT V1.21 will perform identically to the full product when processing 256Kb
of executable code or less. There is no restriction on the total EXE/DLL file
size, the number of files processed or application distribution. Larger code
sizes are also processed but may only be used for testing and evaluation
purposes.
So why give it away free? "The OS/2 community will never truly reap the full
benefits of working set tuning until the majority of code on a user's machine
has been optimised. A machine using only untuned code will need at least 33%
more RAM than its fully tuned counterpart" says Mike Ruddy. "Memory in a
computer is a shared resource so tuning benefits are spread throughout the
system. When an individual small application is tuned much of the benefit goes
elsewhere. Only when several of these applications execute in a real world
environment do performance improvements become apparent. Allowing free use of
this tool is the only effective way to promote tuning of small applications.
Our hope is that once LXOPT's tuning abilities have been installed more
developers will take the time to evaluate it on larger projects."
The full version of LXOPT V1.21 has a MRP of UKP125 / US$195 and is available
immediately from:
In the U.S.A.
BMT Micro Banbury Plaza 2515-C S. 17th St. Wilmington, NC 28401
Tel: 800 414 4268 or +1 910 791 7052 Fax:800 346 1072 or +1 910 350 2937
http://www.wilmington.net/bmtmicro bmt@wilmington.net
In the U.K.
OneStop OS/2 Software and Support Maggs House 78 Queens Road
Clifton Bristol BS8 1QX
Tel: +44 117 985 3370 Fax: +44 117 985 3373
http://www.onestop.co.uk webmaster@onestop.co.uk
Grey Matter Prigg Meadow Ashburton Devon TQ13 7DF
Tel: +44 1364 653499 Fax: +44 1364 653071
maildesk@greymatter.co.uk
All dealers accept orders worldwide. Products are only available via
authorised dealers. All purchasing enquiries should be directed to the
relevant dealer. Existing registered customers will receive LXOPT V1.21 as a
free upgrade, please allow 14 days for delivery.
Formed in 1989, Functional Software Ltd is a small software company based in
Suffolk, England. It specialises in providing software tools to the
development community and may be contacted via the Internet at
"funcsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk", Compuserve "100325,3650" or fax +44 1638
714742. Mail enquiries should be addressed to LXOPT Support, Functional
Software Ltd, The Farmhouse, Holywell Farm, Holywell Row, Suffolk IP28 8NL,
United Kingdom.
LXOPT is a trademark of Functional Software Ltd.
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