Quo vadis code optimization in high energy physics

Although performance tuning and optimization can be considered less critical than in the past, there are still many High Energy Physics (HEP) applications and application domains that can profit from such an undertaking. In CERN's CORE (Centrally Operated RISC Environment) where all major RISC vendors are present, this implies an understanding of the various computer architectures, instruction sets and performance analysis tools from each of these vendors. This paper discusses some initial observations after having evaluated the situation and makes some recommendations for further progress