Re: Optimizing structure layout

erik.schnetter@student.uni-tuebingen.de writes:


> While it is quite common that compilers optimize the code they
> produce, I haven't heard of a commonly used system that really
> optimizes the layout of the data structures that are generated. Are
> there such systems?


For many languages, it is impossible. C for one requires that
structure members be laid out in the order the programmer wrote them.
I believe C++ allows classes to be optimized, but again, not
structures. Also, structures are often times used to communicate with
OSes and external devices, which kind of depend on the ordering. You
also have to consider libraries and such, that may have been built by
somebody else years or months ago using exported structures, and to
which you don't have the sources.


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Michael Meissner, Cygnus Solutions (East Coast)
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