Blog
Statime vs Linux PTP: Comparison of precision
As part of the development of our Precision Time Protocol implementation, Statime, we want to know how it performs compared to other implementations of PTP.
To figure this out, last April we visited VSL, the Dutch National Metrology Institute. There, we performed comparitive precision tests between Statime and Linux PTP.
Sorting with SIMD
Google recently published a blog article and paper introducing their SIMD-accelerated sorting algorithm.
SIMD stands for single instruction, multiple data. A single instruction is used to apply the same operation to multiple pieces of data. The prototypical example is addition, where one instruction can do e.g. 4 32-bit additions. A single SIMD addition should be roughly 4 times faster than performing 4 individual additions.
This kind of instruction-level parallelism has many applications in areas with a lot of number crunching, e.g. machine learning, physics simulations, and game engines. But how can this be used for sorting? Sorting does not involve arithmetic, and the whole idea of sorting is that each element moves to its unique correct place in the output. In other words, we don't want to perform the same work for each element, so at first sight it's hard to see where SIMD can help.
To understand the basic concepts, I played around with the ideas from the paper Fast Quicksort Implementation Using AVX Instructions by Shay Gueron and Vlad Krasnov. They provide an implementation in (surprisingly readable) assembly on their github. Let's see how we can make SIMD sort.
Optimizing Image Processing on the Edge
Implementing Lempel-Ziv Jaccard Distance (LZJD) in Rust
One of our clients helps companies in becoming GDPR-compliant. A goal is to recognize sensitive pieces of user data in a big pile of registrations, receipts, emails, and transcripts, and mark them to be checked out later. As more and more data is collected by companies, finding and eliminating sensitive data becomes harder and harder, to the point where it is no longer possible for mere human employees to keep up without assistance.
How productive is Rust?
We often get the question how productive working with Rust is. "We know that it is awesome, but isn't it hard to learn? Don’t you struggle with the borrow checker?". Well, we put it to the test in Google's Hash Code 2019 programming competition.