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Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 09:10:04 +0200
From: Enrico Migliore <enrico.migliore@fatti.com>
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To: harmony-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: optimization for speed in win32
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Hi,

I did some tests  in order to see which, among __fastcall, __stdcall, 
__cdecl, __inline,
gives the fastest execution time:  my_functions() was called 300000000 times

Processor = Intel Pentium 1.4 GHz
OS = Windows 2000
Compiler = Microsoft Visual C
Executable type = release

---------------------- code ------------------------------
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

/*
 *  qualifier: __fastcall, __stdcall, __cdecl, __inline
 */
qualifier int my_function (int a, char *buf)
{

    int  int_1 = 1987;
    char char_1 = 'a';
    long long_1 = 123456789L;
    long long_2 = &long_1;

    if (a > 0)
    {
        a++;
    }
    else
    {
        a--;
    }
    if (int_1 > 9)
    {
        char_1++;
    }
    else
    {
        char_1--;
    }
    *long_2++;
    if (buf == NULL)
    {
        return -1;
    }
    buf++;
    return a;
}


double test (void)
{

    long i;
    int result;
    char buf[8];
    clock_t start;
    clock_t stop;
    double  duration;

    buf[0] = 0;

    start = clock();    
    for (i = 0; i < 300000000; i++)
    {
         result = my_function(10,buf);
    }
    stop = clock();
    duration = (double) (stop - start) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC;

    return duration;
}


Results:

--------------------------------------------------------
 qualifier          |  test duration (maximize for speed = OFF)
--------------------------------------------------------
 __fastcall       |     14.3900 seconds
 __stdcall        |     12.9700 seconds
 __cdecl (**)  |     13.6200 seconds
 __inline          |      12.9600 seconds

--------------------------------------------------------
 qualifier          |  test duration (maximize for speed = ON)
--------------------------------------------------------
__fastcall        |      5.9400 seconds
__stdcall         |       6.5300 seconds
__cdecl (**)   |       6.4800 seconds
__inline           |       0.0000 seconds (*)

(*) suspicious
(**) __cdecl is the default qualifier


Conclusion:

__inline and __fastcall give the best results
when the compiler is instructed to generate code
with the flag "optimize for speed" enabled.

I also noticed that parameters marshalling is not an issue
because the compiler will link the appropriate static library according
to the optimization selected. Therefore, in win32, we should
be able to optimize our C code for speed  without problems.

Enrico