Sun claims WorkShop C/C++ compiler outperforms GNU

Constantine Vetoshev writes "Sun claims that their WorkShop C/C++ compiler family outperforms GNU tools (egcs) on the SPARC architecture. They cite a ~30% performance gain on certain benchmarks... Any /. readers out there that have experience with the SPARC architecture and have some real stories to tell about Sun development tools versus GNU software?" S: Some of the critique seems unjustified (personally, I prefer tools that do not require me to find my mouse) and does not acknowledge scripts, programmable editors, DDD, etc. However any new ways of improving performance are of interest. It appears Sun's technology relies on run-time profiling and enabling the compiler to use the profiling results -- just like the GNU Rope project improves memory organization using profiling data. It would not be surprising if Workshop had some lead since it is SPARC-specific while egcs isn't: for instance AFAIK egcs does not take cache-architecture into account, while Workshop should. But can anyone tell us the increases of performance they have observed when using profiling information.