BoostC Optimizations

some notes from the forum still to be formatted

The following post yeilded several real and unreal optimizations http://forum.sourceboost.com/index.php?showtopic=2433&pid=9574&mode=threaded&start=#entry9574

Looking at others code on the board makes me notice some of my habits from other compilers(?) regarding optimizations for speed or space. Since i've yet to read any such list regarding this topic and BoostC i figure its time to ask.

A few common ones i remember offhand: -subtracting/deincrementing is faster than adding/incrementing -not using division saves ~35bytes -Left Shifting is faster than Right -Calling a function in an ISR takes longer than outside an ISR -Never use a function for a single operation, you waste time calling and returning -Use bit shifting instead of division for speed savings and possible ram savings (shifting one bit right is equal to dividing by two, etc)

i am sure there are many others and i cannot even remember which belong to which compilers of if some were actually hardware based optimizaions.

It would be great if others would list thier known and suspected tweaks here for discussion.

I dont think any of these are valid optimisations with BoostC.

QUOTE (emte @ Dec 19 2006, 07:18 AM) -subtracting/deincrementing is faster than adding/incrementing -Left Shifting is faster than Right -Calling a function in an ISR takes longer than outside an ISR

BoostC performs additional optimisations on shift operations.

QUOTE (emte @ Dec 19 2006, 07:18 AM) -Use bit shifting instead of division for speed savings and possible ram savings

    (shifting one bit right is equal to dividing by two, etc)

I just saved a lot of bytes by reducing the number of index access on array vars.

a stupid and useless example: char var[10];

for( i= 0; i<10;i++){ if ((var[i]==this) || (var[i]==that)) var[i]=somefunction(var[i]); var[i]+=2; }

if you need to have access on a particular index several times i'm using an extra dummy var.

char var[10], dummy;

for( i= 0; i<10;i++){ dummy= var[i]; if ((dummy==this) || (dummy==that)) dummy=somefunction(dummy); var[i]= dummy+=2; }

something similar happens when you are working with struct variables.

Here are a few tricks that can reduce code size a lot:

1. Use smallest data type possible. For example if 8 bits is enough use char and not short or long. 2. Use unsigned data types if possible. Unsigned types generate shorter code than signed. 3. Both arrays and pointers generate a lot of code. Use plain variables instead where possible.

Regards, Pavel

Group: EstablishedMember Posts: 378 Joined: 8-December 06 From: Victoria, BC, Canada Member No.: 2,230

QUOTE (Pavel @ Dec 21 2006, 03:54 PM) Here are a few tricks that can reduce code size a lot:

1. Use smallest data type possible. For example if 8 bits is enough use char and not short or long. 2. Use unsigned data types if possible. Unsigned types generate shorter code than signed. 3. Both arrays and pointers generate a lot of code. Use plain variables instead where possible.

Regards, Pavel

To add onto this list a bit: -Write constants into ROM not RAM -Do not return values from functions that you wont use/do not need -Reuse common code or write a common function and call it will save huge amounts of space ( i suspect agressive opt in BoostC may negate this last but i've yet to test)

i had forgotten about this one but the good old ()?:; (tri-unary?) function conditionally yields slightly smaller/faster code on every compiler i've ever used versus using if()else(); The gain varies from 1-3 lines of asm code, which, if in a high use test will amount to a conciderable savings.

The conditional aspect of this is that the fail function must do something it cannot be left empty or there is no value in using it and will actually result in longer code.

CODE (test)?(result=1):(result=0);

VS CODE if(test) {

  result=1;

} else {

  result=0;

}

QUOTE (emte @ Dec 27 2006, 05:07 PM) i had forgotten about this one but the good old ()?:; (tri-unary?) function conditionally yields slightly smaller/faster code...

I tried that one out and there's no gain on SourceBoost C (for PIC16) on any optimization level.

For code like that, I would expect this: CODE result = (test ? 1 : 0) to do better, but it doesn't, either...

QUOTE (edt @ Dec 29 2006, 01:23 PM) QUOTE (emte @ Dec 27 2006, 05:07 PM) i had forgotten about this one but the good old ()?:; (tri-unary?) function conditionally yields slightly smaller/faster code...

I tried that one out and there's no gain on SourceBoost C (for PIC16) on any optimization level.

For code like that, I would expect this: CODE result = (test ? 1 : 0) to do better, but it doesn't, either...

Odd, altho my tests were simply:

CODE

   (testBit)?(_ONE = 1):(_ONE = 0);

0039 08A1 MOVF main_1_testBit, F 003A 1903 BTFSC STATUS,Z 003B 283E GOTO label268438744 003C 1486 BSF gbl__ONE,1 003D 283F GOTO label268438746 003E label268438744 003E 1086 BCF gbl__ONE,1 003F label268438746

       if(testBit)

003F 08A1 MOVF main_1_testBit, F 0040 1903 BTFSC STATUS,Z 0041 2844 GOTO label268438747 0044 label268438747

       {
           _ONE = 1;

0042 1486 BSF gbl__ONE,1

       }
       else

0043 2837 GOTO label268438739

       {
           _ONE = 0;

0044 1086 BCF gbl__ONE,1

       }

with the asm disassembly, but it looks like i am wrong about the new version of the compiler. i am glad to see that these are now the same as they are identical chunks of code.

If i recall correctly, the reason they were different is that the if-else used to use two bit tests to determine logic, which is how you would do it if you had more ifelse tests.

Now i am back to using ?:; just for a cleaner look to code i guess. Thanks for testing that with the new version, it did not even occur to me that it may have changed

---

Hmm it looks like the if-else might actually be one line shorter now ... altho it is just a lable line.

result= test&1;

Yes that would possibly work in this case as it is an extremly simple example. But on the otherhand if you were writting code for an indicator light, say to notify of an AD conversion, you could not use the return value as your test bit. ie. if test = 4 that mask would fail but (test)?(result=1):(result=0); would work since all non-zero/positives would set result.

i find this handy if you have more than one AD module on your device instead of using the flags as you can now build an AD FIFO cyclical stack or non-blocking time sensitive functions. (all that slow eeprom write stuff while your doing another conversion) ... hmm maybe i should add that example to handy functions ...