Chapter 25. Code-Tuning Strategies

cc2e.com/2578

Contents

• Performance Overview page 588

• Introduction to Code Tuning page 591

• Kinds of Fat and Molasses page 597

• Measurement page 603

• Iteration page 605

• Summary of the Approach to Code Tuning page 606

Related Topics

• Code-tuning techniques: Chapter 26

• Software architecture: Section 3.5

This chapter discusses the question of performance tuning historically, a controversial issue. Computer resources were severely limited in the 1960s, and efficiency was a paramount concern. As computers became more powerful in the 1970s, programmers realized how much their focus on performance had hurt readability and maintainability and code tuning received less attention. The return of performance limitations with the microcomputer revolution of the 1980s again brought efficiency to the fore, which then waned throughout the 1990s. In the 2000s, memory limitations in embedded software for devices such as telephones and PDAs and the execution time of interpreted code have once again made efficiency a key topic.

You can address performance concerns at two levels: strategic and tactical. This chapter addresses strategic performance issues: what performance is, how important it is, and the general approach to achieving it. If you already have a good grip on performance strategies and are looking for specific code-level techniques that improve performance, move on to Chapter 26, "Code-Tuning Techniques." Before you begin any major performance work, however, at least skim the information in this chapter so that you don't waste time optimizing when you should be doing other kinds of work.