Optimizations - Programmer vs. Compiler?

Saravana Kannan asks: "I have been coding in C for a while (10 yrs or so) and tend to use short code snippets. As a simple example, take 'if (!ptr)' instead of 'if (ptr==NULL)'. The reason someone might use the former code snippet is because they believe it would result in smaller machine code if the compiler does not do optimizations or is not smart enough to optimize the particular code snippet. IMHO the latter code snippet is clearer than the former, and I would use it in my code if I know for sure that the compiler will optimize it and produce machine code equivalent to the former code snippet. The previous example was easy. What about code that is more complex? Now that compilers have matured over years and have had many improvements, I ask the Slashdot crowd, what they believe the compiler can be trusted to optimize and what must be hand optimized?" "How would your answer differ (in terms of the level of trust on the compiler) if I'm talking about compilers for Desktops vs. Embedded systems? Compilers for which of the following platforms do you think is more optimized at present - Desktops (because is more commonly used) or Embedded systems (because of need for maximum optimization)? Would be better if you could stick to free (as in beer) and Open Source compilers. Give examples of code optimizations that you think the compiler can/can't be trusted to do."

Comments

Check out the LLVM demo page

[sabre]

LLVM is an aggressive compiler that is able to do many cool things. Best yet, it has a demo page here: http://llvm.org/demo, where you can try two different things and see how they compile.

One of the nice things about this is that the code is printed in a simple abstract assembly language that is easy to read and understand.

The compiler itself is very cool too btw, check it out. :)

-Chris

Re:Clear Code

[drgonzo59]

Same goes for code that runs on the airplanes (like Boeing passenger aircraft). In fact the developers have to prove that each possible! branch that code could ever take won't lead to unpredictable behavior or crash. If you have 100 independent 'if' statements that is at least 2^100 possibilites. The code they write is very linear, they avoid branching at all cost.

There is a whole are of study involved in correctness checking, which is related to the SAT (Satisfiability) problem.

The operating system choice is also interesting. Linux doesn't even come close to what they need. Having device drivers in the kernel is just not a good idea. It needs to have a separation kernel, at least that is the goal. I presently think they use the INTEGRITY operating system by Green Hills, but I could be wrong.