View Source: Optimisation - Waikato Linux Users Group

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The process of improving SourceCode and/or its resulting MachineCode with regard to a certain aspect. Such aspects include:

__Speed__::
    Does what it says: the program runs faster.
    This is the aspect commonly referred to when the term [Optimisation] is used.
__Object code size__::
    Reduces the size of large applications (such as browsers, office suites, and the like) or frequently downloaded code (such as scripts and applets on WebSite~s).
    As a side effect, [Cache] locality of the code improves, so performance will often benefit as well.
    This is the second most commonly referred to aspect of [Optimisation].
__Compilation time__::
    Improves the perceived responsiveness of code compiled dynamically in reaction to user requests.
__Parallelisation__::
    Leverages the resources of [SMP] systems better, because MultiThreaded tasks can take advantage of multiple [CPU]s at once.

In practice, you always need a balance among these.

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There are other aspects which relate to the development-time rather than the run-time which can also be thought of as optimisations:

__Flexibility__::
    Reduces the effort and thus cost of designing and implementing new features. See also [Refactoring].
__Portability__::
    Allows deploying the SourceCode on more than one platforms.
    This often requires avoiding other, platform-specific [Optimisation] techniques.

Again, balance is necessary.

2 pages link to Optimisation:

Last edited on Saturday, September 18, 2004 8:48:23 pm by StuartYeates

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