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Writing Efficient C Code?

posted by LaminatorX on Sunday March 16 2014, @03:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the premature-optimization-is-the-root-of-all-evil dept.

Subsentient writes:

"I've been writing C for quite some time, but I never followed good conventions I'm afraid, and I never payed much attention to the optimization tricks of the higher C programmers. Sure, I use const when I can, I use the pointer methods for manual string copying, I even use register for all the good that does with modern compilers, but now, I'm trying to write a C-string handling library for personal use, but I need speed, and I really don't want to use inline ASM. So, I am wondering, what would other Soylenters do to write efficient, pure, standards-compliant C?"

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by forsythe on Sunday March 16 2014, @05:02AM

    by forsythe (831) on Sunday March 16 2014, @05:02AM (#17088)

    I completely agree, and offer Rob Pike's notes [lysator.liu.se]. In particular, rule 3 of complexity stands out:

    Fancy algorithms are slow when n is small, and n is usually small. Fancy algorithms have big constants. Until you know that n is frequently going to be big, don't get fancy.

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  • (Score: 1) by Fry on Sunday March 16 2014, @07:38AM

    by Fry (642) on Sunday March 16 2014, @07:38AM (#17114)

    Fancy algorithms are slow when n is small, and n is usually small.

    Which is why I only use bubble sort!

    • (Score: 2) by Debvgger on Sunday March 16 2014, @08:27AM

      by Debvgger (545) on Sunday March 16 2014, @08:27AM (#17123)

      I only use Bubble Bobble, sort of.