Contents  Introduction  Know your tools  Inlining  Fast classes  Digging Deeper  Math Optimisations  Use that brain  of yours  Printable version

Introduction

We all want speed in this business - whether we like to admit it or not. Frames Per Second ratings are thrown around like there is no tomorrow, and everyone in the PR department is always ranting about how their new engine is "faster" than everyone else's and can do "more" as well.

I'm not here to talk about how to make your code "faster" than anyone else's. I just want to teach you to make it faster, and more efficient, than the code you usually write.

I'd like to cover three things that are intricately tied together:

1. Code Execution Time
2. Code / Program Size
3. Programming effort

I'm a strong believer in keeping a balance between those three, and only in certain cases should you sacrifice parts of the latter two to improve the first.

In this article, I'm going to point out some things that may help you improve the efficiency and performance of your code. I will start with the easiest ways of optimizing and work my way to more complex and involved techniques. First, I'll begin with what may seem a not-so obvious point : the compiler.

For the more advanced programmers among you, please keep in mind that I'm trying to write as simple as possible, without cluttering my text with too many details.

Next : Know your tools