[fpc-devel] Different versions of register name search algorithms used

[Christo Crause]

While trying to understand bug 0037121I noticed that the predominant search
algorithm used for finding register names is a binary search without a
match check.  My understanding of this algorithm is that it will always run
the maximum iterations for the search space before terminating.  To
understand how this is supposed to work I looked at other target
implementations.  I realized that this algorithm is used in all but 2
cases: x86 (in itx86int.pas) which uses (what I consider to be) a
conventional binary search, and mips which uses a linear search.

I don't see a need to have different algorithms for performing what appears
to be the same function (search for a string in a sorted list of strings),
is this correct?

Then, I don't understand why the general search algorithm isn't the one in
itx86int.pas.  Is there a compelling reason for preferring the 1st
algorithm over the conventional binary search?

Thirdly, each target has its own implementation of findreg_by_XXXname, is
there a reason not to have a single search function shared by all targets?
This may require some renaming of current variable lists such as
gas_regname_index and int_regname_index etc. to a common convention.

Your thoughts on these questions would be appreciated.

Christo
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