<s>
FastCode	B-Language
is	O
an	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
programming	I-Application
project	O
aimed	O
at	O
providing	O
enhanced	O
runtime	B-Library
library	I-Library
routines	O
for	O
Embarcadero	B-Language
Delphi	I-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
Builder	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
it	O
was	O
started	O
in	O
2003	O
by	O
Dennis	O
Kjaer	O
Christensen	O
,	O
it	O
has	O
contributed	O
highly	O
optimised	O
functionality	O
to	O
the	O
32-bit	O
Delphi	B-Language
runtime	B-Library
library	I-Library
(	O
RTL	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FastCode	B-Language
is	O
unique	O
among	O
contributions	O
to	O
commercial	O
compiler	O
runtime	B-Library
libraries	I-Library
for	O
its	O
community-driven	O
and	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
nature	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Borland	O
,	O
Codegear	O
and	O
Embarcadero	O
,	O
the	O
owners	O
of	O
Delphi	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
Builder	I-Language
,	O
have	O
historically	O
sponsored	O
prizes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
majority	O
of	O
participants	O
in	O
the	O
competition	O
are	O
assembler	O
developers	O
who	O
often	O
utilize	O
processor-specific	O
32-bit	O
code	O
and	O
extra	O
instruction	O
sets	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
MMX	B-Architecture
,	O
SSE	B-General_Concept
,	O
SSE2	B-General_Concept
,	O
SSE3	B-General_Concept
,	O
SSSE3	B-General_Concept
and	O
SSE4	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
project	O
enjoys	O
the	O
support	O
of	O
Embarcadero	O
who	O
recognizes	O
the	O
contributions	O
of	O
the	O
FastCode	B-Language
team	O
and	O
incorporates	O
their	O
code	O
into	O
the	O
codebase	O
for	O
Delphi	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
default	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
for	O
Embarcadero	B-Language
Delphi	I-Language
,	O
FastMM4	O
,	O
is	O
the	O
winner	O
of	O
the	O
FastCode	B-Language
Memory	B-General_Concept
Manager	I-General_Concept
challenge	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2017	O
,	O
the	O
benchmark	O
routines	O
for	O
Move	O
,	O
FillChar	O
and	O
the	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
have	O
been	O
ported	O
for	O
64-bit	O
,	O
available	O
at	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FastCode	B-Language
project	O
puts	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
effort	O
into	O
testing	O
and	O
focus	O
is	O
on	O
providing	O
very	O
high	O
quality	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Validation	O
is	O
done	O
on	O
all	O
CPUs	O
from	O
the	O
target	O
set	O
and	O
very	O
often	O
on	O
other	O
CPUs	O
and	O
OSs	O
(	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
,	O
Windows	B-Application
Vista	I-Application
,	O
Windows	B-Device
7	I-Device
etc	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
CPUs	O
have	O
been	O
or	O
are	O
part	O
of	O
target	O
sets	O
:	O
(	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
Pentium	I-General_Concept
3	I-General_Concept
,	O
Intel	B-Architecture
Pentium	I-Architecture
M	I-Architecture
,	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
Pentium	I-General_Concept
4	I-General_Concept
,	O
Intel	B-Device
Core	I-Device
,	O
Intel	B-Device
Core	I-Device
2	I-Device
,	O
AMD	O
Athlon	O
XP	B-Application
,	O
AMD	B-General_Concept
Opteron	I-General_Concept
,	O
AMD	O
Phenom	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Especially	O
the	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
challenge	O
benchmark	O
was	O
hard	O
to	O
get	O
fair	O
and	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
usage	O
logs	O
were	O
made	O
from	O
normal	O
usage	O
of	O
real	O
world	O
applications	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
played	O
back	O
by	O
the	O
benchmark	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
new	O
targetset	O
is	O
decided	O
each	O
year	O
from	O
a	O
poll	O
where	O
the	O
FastCode	B-Language
community	O
can	O
vote	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
target	O
could	O
be	O
"	O
IA32	O
size	O
penalty	O
"	O
or	O
"	O
SSE2	B-General_Concept
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FastCode	B-Language
project	O
has	O
run	O
the	O
following	O
challenges	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
FastCode	B-Language
functions	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
Delphi	B-Language
RTL	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Delphi	B-Language
2007	O
—	O
Delphi	B-Language
XE	O
:	O
ArcCos	O
,	O
ArcSin	O
,	O
Power	O
,	O
PosEx	O
,	O
Move	O
,	O
Memory	B-General_Concept
Manager	I-General_Concept
,	O
FillChar	O
,	O
Pos	O
,	O
__lldiv	O
,	O
LowerCase	O
,	O
UpperCase	O
,	O
CompareStr	O
,	O
CompareMem	O
,	O
CompareText	O
,	O
StrLen	O
,	O
StrCopy	O
,	O
StrComp	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Mastering	O
Delphi	B-Language
books	O
by	O
Marco	O
Cantu	O
contains	O
a	O
chapter	O
about	O
FastCode	B-Language
listing	O
the	O
contributions	O
to	O
the	O
Delphi	B-Language
RTL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
the	O
challenge	O
winners	O
are	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
FastCode	B-Language
library	O
(	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
library	O
is	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
,	O
released	O
under	O
the	O
MPL	B-License
license	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
using	O
the	O
patching	O
functionality	O
the	O
library	O
automatically	O
detects	O
the	O
CPU	O
type	O
at	O
application	O
load	O
,	O
and	O
uses	O
this	O
information	O
to	O
redirect	O
all	O
function	O
calls	O
to	O
the	O
FastCode	B-Language
winner	O
function	O
for	O
that	O
specific	O
CPU	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
FastMM	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
used	O
by	O
Delphi	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
Builder	I-Language
since	O
2006	O
is	O
also	O
the	O
winner	O
of	O
a	O
FastCode	B-Language
competition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
replaced	O
the	O
standard	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
of	O
Delphi	B-Language
and	O
is	O
not	O
only	O
less	O
prone	O
to	O
memory	O
fragmentation	O
,	O
it	O
also	O
provides	O
improved	O
debugging	O
possibilities	O
like	O
being	O
able	O
to	O
report	O
memory	B-Error_Name
leaks	I-Error_Name
when	O
the	O
application	O
is	O
being	O
closed	O
,	O
detecting	O
use	O
after	O
memory	O
release	O
or	O
double	O
releases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FastMM4	O
is	O
also	O
used	O
as	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
for	O
applications	O
developed	O
in	O
Lazarus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FastMM4	O
is	O
often	O
listed	O
as	O
a	O
"	O
must	O
have	O
"	O
tool	O
for	O
Delphi	B-Language
developers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FastMM	O
usage	O
is	O
documented	O
in	O
"	O
The	O
New	O
Memory	B-General_Concept
Manager	I-General_Concept
In	O
BDS	O
2006	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
application	O
developed	O
in	O
Delphi	B-Language
or	O
C++	B-Language
Builder	I-Language
will	O
typically	O
use	O
the	O
default	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
which	O
is	O
FastMM4	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FastCode	B-Language
functions	O
in	O
the	O
RTL	O
have	O
been	O
selected	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
most	O
commonly	O
used	O
ones	O
and	O
an	O
application	O
will	O
also	O
typically	O
use	O
some	O
of	O
these	O
,	O
especially	O
if	O
any	O
string	O
handling	O
is	O
done	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
Delphi/C	O
++	O
Builder	O
applications	O
will	O
therefore	O
use	O
code	O
developed	O
by	O
the	O
FastCode	B-Language
project	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
examples	O
are	O
Skype	B-Application
,	O
FL	B-Application
Studio	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Embarcadero	O
’s	O
own	O
RAD	O
Studio	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
describes	O
FastMM4	O
and	O
why	O
it	O
is	O
being	O
used	O
as	O
the	O
memory	B-General_Concept
manager	I-General_Concept
in	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
