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Re: How many cores
I think there's some problems with the analysis in this thread.
For a program to be able to utilise multiple cores it must be written to utilise multiple concurrent threads of execution that can run separately on different cores.
Often software can use one thread of execution for handling the display and another for the main processing tasks.
To properly handle concurrent execution (and properly use multiple cores) takes a lot of extra effort and planning - when things run concurrently data can be access simultaneously and overwritten, so it has to be protected from multiple access by some form of locking mechanism. Software not written to enable parallel execution can never execute on multiple cores effectively.
A lot of modern software utilises the multiple cores present in some graphics cards.
Testing a trace function is unlikely to be representative of the multi-processing capabilities of Xara in other respect (though it may be if it is single-threaded).
My understanding is that Xara is still essentially a single-threaded system unable to effectively use multiple cores. Does this make multiple cores pointless? No because it allows your machine to be responsive even if one or more cores is fully utilized.
When I used to test multi-threaded database software on multi-processor machines the goal was to employ every single processor entirely and keep those discs as occupied as possible during intensive benchmarking.
In any event none of this matters. Xara understands the issues and users can't change anything.
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Bees - I am always happy to see bumble bees - don't be afraid of them and let them be. They won't bother you if you don't bother them. It's a pleasure to see them.
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Re: How many cores
@pauland, nicely put.
@All, JavaScript is essentially single-threaded. In browsers you could invoke something akin to https://github.com/keithwhor/multithread.js if your web application required it.
The XDAs are a different beast but even here there is some JavaScript being run; Smartshapes come to mind.
So where are the Xara bottlenecks: loading, Lines gallery, Exporting & Publishing? Large numbers of Pages and large numbers of Repeating Objects.
A 999-step Blend itself blended in 999 steps to another 999-step Blend takes 4 seconds on my machine. All 6 cores kick in. One works the display and the others whatever.
I can drag down my XDA fairly easily. If doesn't make me clever or Xara dumb. Overall, it strikes me that Xara needs to improve its handling of internal collection of objects, pointer and the like.
It admitted defeat when it removed the Find capability for the Design gallery.
Unless Xara steps up and addresses these concerns with quantitative detail, further discussion will get not very far.
Acorn
P.S. Just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? If it were virtualised and running quantum, I guess at least a googol before all that information is smeared across a black hole's surface.
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Re: How many cores
you are the expert on CPU stuff Paul, more than me certainly... thanks
we have always had bumble bees here, we are lucky; they are essential for pollination and, well, cute
this time of year, here, beatrice is almost certainly a queen bee looking for a nesting place - it is not of course possible to say every visit was the same bee, but the behaviour was always the same, rummage in the mess that is one side of our rear conservatory... no plants in this conservatory bar one cactus and one aloe vera, both ignored; and bees can't nest in plastic... we have already found three dead ones this year :(