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Inlining
In computing, inline expansion, or inlining, is a manual or compiler optimization that replaces a function call site with the body of the called function. Inline expansion is similar to macro expansion, but occurs during compilation, without changing the source code (the text), while macro expansion occurs prior to compilation, and results in different text that is then processed by the compiler. Inlining is an important optimization, but has complicated effects on performance. As a rule of thumb, some inlining will improve speed at very minor cost of space, but excess inlining will hurt speed, due to inlined code consuming too much of the instruction cache, and also cost significant space. A survey of the modest academic literature on inlining from the 1980s and 1990s is given in Peyton Jones & Marlow 1999. Overview Inline expansion is similar to macro expansion as the compiler places a new copy of the function in each place it is called. Inlined functions run a little faster t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function Call
In computer programming, a function or subroutine is a sequence of program instructions that performs a specific task, packaged as a unit. This unit can then be used in programs wherever that particular task should be performed. Functions may be defined within programs, or separately in libraries that can be used by many programs. In different programming languages, a function may be called a routine, subprogram, subroutine, method, or procedure. Technically, these terms all have different definitions, and the nomenclature varies from language to language. The generic umbrella term ''callable unit'' is sometimes used. A function is often coded so that it can be started several times and from several places during one execution of the program, including from other functions, and then branch back (''return'') to the next instruction after the ''call'', once the function's task is done. The idea of a subroutine was initially conceived by John Mauchly during his work on ENIAC, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, engineering, mathematical, technological and social aspects. Major computing disciplines include computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, data science, information systems, information technology and software engineering. The term "computing" is also synonymous with counting and calculating. In earlier times, it was used in reference to the action performed by mechanical computing machines, and before that, to human computers. History The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper (or for chalk and slate) with or without the aid of tables. Computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers, though mathematical conc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Binary File
A binary file is a computer file that is not a text file. The term "binary file" is often used as a term meaning "non-text file". Many binary file formats contain parts that can be interpreted as text; for example, some computer document files containing formatted text, such as older Microsoft Word document files, contain the text of the document but also contain formatting information in binary form. Structure Binary files are usually thought of as being a sequence of bytes, which means the binary digits (bits) are grouped in eights. Binary files typically contain bytes that are intended to be interpreted as something other than text characters. Compiled computer programs are typical examples; indeed, compiled applications are sometimes referred to, particularly by programmers, as binaries. But binary files can also mean that they contain images, sounds, compressed versions of other files, etc. – in short, any type of file content whatsoever. Some binary files contain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loop-invariant Code Motion
In computer programming, loop-invariant code consists of statements or expressions (in an imperative programming language) that can be moved outside the body of a loop without affecting the semantics of the program. Loop-invariant code motion (also called hoisting or scalar promotion) is a compiler optimization that performs this movement automatically. Example In the following code sample, two optimizations can be applied. int i = 0; while (i < n) Although the calculation x = y + z and x * x is loop-invariant, precautions must be taken before moving the code outside the loop. It is possible that the loop condition is false (for example, if n holds a negative value), and in such case, the loop body should not be executed at all. One way of guaranteeing correct behaviour is using a conditional branch outside of the loop. Evaluating the loop condition can have
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Constant (programming)
In computer programming, a constant is a value that should not be altered by the program during normal execution, i.e., the value is ''constant''. When associated with an identifier, a constant is said to be "named," although the terms "constant" and "named constant" are often used interchangeably. This is contrasted with a ''variable,'' which is an identifier with a value that can be changed during normal execution, i.e., the value is ''variable.'' Constants are useful for both programmers and compilers: For programmers they are a form of self-documenting code and allow reasoning about correctness, while for compilers they allow compile-time and run-time checks that verify that constancy assumptions are not violated, and allow or simplify some compiler optimizations. There are various specific realizations of the general notion of a constant, with subtle distinctions that are often overlooked. The most significant are: compile-time (statically valued) constants, run-time (dy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interprocedural Optimization
Interprocedural optimization (IPO) is a collection of compiler techniques used in computer programming to improve performance in programs containing many frequently used functions of small or medium length. IPO differs from other compiler optimizations because it analyzes the entire program; other optimizations look at only a single function, or even a single block of code. IPO seeks to reduce or eliminate duplicate calculations, inefficient use of memory, and to simplify iterative sequences such as loops. If there is a call to another routine that occurs within a loop, IPO analysis may determine that it is best to inline that. Additionally, IPO may re-order the routines for better memory layout and locality. IPO may also include typical compiler optimizations on a whole-program level, for example dead code elimination (DCE), which removes code that is never executed. To accomplish this, the compiler tests for branches that are never taken and removes the code in that branch. IP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call By Sharing
In a programming language, an evaluation strategy is a set of rules for evaluating expressions. The term is often used to refer to the more specific notion of a ''parameter-passing strategy'' that defines the kind of value that is passed to the function for each parameter (the ''binding strategy'') and whether to evaluate the parameters of a function call, and if so in what order (the ''evaluation order''). The notion of reduction strategy is distinct, although some authors conflate the two terms and the definition of each term is not widely agreed upon. To illustrate, executing a function call f(a,b) may first evaluate the arguments a and b, store the results in references or memory locations ref_a and ref_b, then evaluate the function's body with those references passed in. This gives the function the ability to look up the argument values, to modify them via assignment as if they were local variables, and to return values via the references. This is the call-by-reference evalua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call By Address
In a programming language, an evaluation strategy is a set of rules for evaluating expressions. The term is often used to refer to the more specific notion of a ''parameter-passing strategy'' that defines the kind of value that is passed to the function for each parameter (the ''binding strategy'') and whether to evaluate the parameters of a function call, and if so in what order (the ''evaluation order''). The notion of reduction strategy is distinct, although some authors conflate the two terms and the definition of each term is not widely agreed upon. To illustrate, executing a function call f(a,b) may first evaluate the arguments a and b, store the results in references or memory locations ref_a and ref_b, then evaluate the function's body with those references passed in. This gives the function the ability to look up the argument values, to modify them via assignment as if they were local variables, and to return values via the references. This is the call-by-reference evalua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Call By Reference
In a programming language, an evaluation strategy is a set of rules for evaluating expressions. The term is often used to refer to the more specific notion of a ''parameter-passing strategy'' that defines the kind of value that is passed to the function for each parameter (the ''binding strategy'') and whether to evaluate the parameters of a function call, and if so in what order (the ''evaluation order''). The notion of reduction strategy is distinct, although some authors conflate the two terms and the definition of each term is not widely agreed upon. To illustrate, executing a function call f(a,b) may first evaluate the arguments a and b, store the results in references or memory locations ref_a and ref_b, then evaluate the function's body with those references passed in. This gives the function the ability to look up the argument values, to modify them via assignment as if they were local variables, and to return values via the references. This is the call-by-reference evalu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Register Spilling
In compiler optimization, register allocation is the process of assigning local automatic variables and expression results to a limited number of processor registers. Register allocation can happen over a basic block (''local register allocation''), over a whole function/ procedure (''global register allocation''), or across function boundaries traversed via call-graph (''interprocedural register allocation''). When done per function/procedure the calling convention may require insertion of save/restore around each call-site. Context Principle {, class="wikitable floatright" , + Different number of scalar registers in the most common architectures , - ! Architecture ! scope="col" , 32 bits ! scope="col" , 64 bits , - ! scope="row" , ARM , 15 , 31 , - ! scope="row" , Intel x86 , 8 , 16 , - ! scope="row" , MIPS , 32 , 32 , - ! scope="row" , POWER/PowerPC , 32 , 32 , - ! scope="row" , RISC-V , 16/32 , 32 , - ! scope="row" , SP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Return Statement
In computer programming, a return statement causes execution to leave the current subroutine and resume at the point in the code immediately after the instruction which called the subroutine, known as its return address. The return address is saved by the calling routine, today usually on the process's call stack or in a register. Return statements in many programming languages allow a function to specify a return value to be passed back to the code that called the function. Overview In C and C++, return ''exp''; (where ''exp'' is an expression) is a statement that tells a function to return execution of the program to the calling function, and report the value of ''exp''. If a function has the return type void, the return statement can be used without a value, in which case the program just breaks out of the current function and returns to the calling one. In Pascal there is no return statement. (However, in newer Pascals, the Exit(''exp''); can be used to return a value imm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function Epilogue
In assembly language programming, the function prologue is a few lines of code at the beginning of a function, which prepare the stack and registers for use within the function. Similarly, the function epilogue appears at the end of the function, and restores the stack and registers to the state they were in before the function was called. The prologue and epilogue are not a part of the assembly language itself; they represent a convention used by assembly language programmers, and compilers of many higher-level languages. They are fairly rigid, having the same form in each function. Function prologue and epilogue also sometimes contain code for buffer overflow protection. Prologue A function prologue typically does the following actions if the architecture has a base pointer (also known as frame pointer) and a stack pointer: *Pushes current base pointer onto the stack, so it can be restored later. *Value of base pointer is set to the address of stack pointer (which is point ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
