Thread: optimization question

Hi all,
what are possible optimizations for this code to make as fast as possible:

Code:

unsigned char from[A], to[A];

void foo(){

int i;

for(i=0;i<A;i++)
    to[i]=from[i];
}

A is very big.

thanx

you can try
if array from[] contains a null-terminated string, use strcpy(). Otherwise you can use memcpy() -- but beware that memcpy() does not null-terminated the string like strcpy() does. In the case of binary data you don't want it null-terminated anyway.

Code:

memcpy(to, from,  A);

Here are a couple more thoughts to consider:

Rob Pike...offers a slightly different angle in Notes on C Programming:

Rule 1. You can't tell where a program is going to spend its time. Bottlenecks occur in
surprising places, so don't try to second guess and put in a speed hack until you've
proven that's where the bottleneck is.

Rule 2. Measure. Don't tune for speed until you've measured, and even then don't
unless one part of the code overwhelms the rest.

Rule 3. Fancy algorithms are slow when n is small, and n is usually small. Fancy
algorithms have big constants. Until you know that n is frequently going to be big,
don't get fancy. (Even if n does get big, use Rule 2 first.)

Rule 4. Fancy algorithms are buggier than simple ones, and they're much harder to
implement. Use simple algorithms as well as simple data structures.

Rule 5. Data dominates. If you've chosen the right data structures and organized things
well, the algorithms will almost always be self-evident. Data structures, not algorithms,
are central to programming.[9]

Rule 6. There is no Rule 6.


Extracted from The Art of Unix Programming by Eric S. Raymond