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Subject: Re: C++ Programming Q: are const and define efficiency the same

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 09:24:59 01/17/04

Go up one level in this thread


On January 17, 2004 at 07:14:35, Bo Persson wrote:

>On January 16, 2004 at 22:35:55, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On January 16, 2004 at 22:15:34, Federico Corigliano wrote:
>>
>>>Hi
>>>
>>>In my engine I have a lot of #defines as:
>>>#define FileA 0xFFFFFFFF  <- I don't remember the real value
>>>and I want to convert it to:
>>>const UINT64 FileA = 0xFFFFFFFFF;
>>>I the change can affect the speed. As I often use MSVC Debugger, it's boring to
>>>translate every #define to the respective number.
>>>
>>>Federico
>>
>>I don't think there will be much difference.  Using a #define might produce
>>some asm code with 32 bit immediate values which will bloat the code a bit,
>>while using the const int64 will plop one copy of the value in memory making
>>it fit in cache maybe a bit better.
>
><nitpicking>
>There is a minute difference between C and C++, in that const values have
>internal linkage by default in C++ (in C that would be 'static const'). That
>saves the compiler from having to store the value in memory, as it cannot be
>accessed from other compilation units anyway.
></nitpicking>
>

I hadn't thought about the static C option at all, bit irregardless there is
still a question of use a #define to produce a huge instruction where at least
the immediate will be available when the instruction is executed, or to use a
memory reference where the instruction will be smaller and hopefully the data
will be in cache.

There is probably some break-even point in how many times you use one or the
other, before the other is preferable.  I wouldn't try to predict without
running it however.

>>
>>Best bet is to try it and see which is faster for _your_ program and machine.
>
>A good idea anyway.
>
>
>
>Bo Persson



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