Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Sun readies tool support for 64-bit AMD systems

news
Sep 21, 20042 mins

Studio 10 release set for release

Sun Microsystems plans to release its Sun Studio 10 development tool in the fourth quarter of this year, featuring support for 64-bit applications running on AMD Opteron and Nocona processors, Sun officials said on Tuesday.

Sun Studio is intended to make it easier for customers to migrate to the Solaris 10 operating system, which also is due to ship later this year, according to Sun officials. The tool supports C, C++, and Fortran developers on Solaris, complementing Sun’s Java-based offerings. Sun already has supported 64-bit Sparc systems in its current Sun Studio tool. The company spoke about its tools initiatives in conjunction with its quarterly product announcement.

A Sun official touted the performance of Sun Studio compilers over the open source GNU C compiler (GCC). “If you use those open source compilers, you will run 60 percent slower than applications compiled with Sun Studio,” said Joe Keller, Sun vice president of marketing for the Java Web services and tools group. “That delta, I refer to as a tax,” or the GCC tax, he said.

“That’s like wasting half a machine,” Keller said.

Additionally, Sun as part of its pursuit of the Wall Street financial market is setting up a Wall Street-specific Sun Developer Advisory Council to meet starting in October. Also, a “Tech Days on Wall Street” developer conference is planned for November.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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