Efficient C Tips #7 – Fast loops

     by Nigel Jones

       原文: http://embeddedgurus.com/stack-overflow/2009/03/efficient-c-tips-7-fast-loops/

        Every program at some point requires some set of actions to be taken a fixed number of times. Indeed this is such a common occurrence that we typically code it without really giving it much thought. For example, if I asked you to call a function foo() ten times, I’m sure that most of you would write something like this:

for (uint8_t lpc = 0; lpc < 10; ++lpc){   foo();}

While there is nothing wrong with this, per se, it is sub optimal on just about every processor. Instead you are better off using a construct which counts down to zero. Here are two alternative ways of doing this:

for(uint8_t lpc = 10; lpc != 0; --lpc){   foo();}uint8_t lpc = 10;do{  foo();} while (--lpc);

Which one you think is more natural is entirely up to you.

So how does this efficiency arise? Well in the count up case, the assembly language generated by the compiler typically looks something like this:

INC lpc      ; Increment loop counterSUB lpc, #10 ; Compare loop counter to 10BNZ loop     ; Branch if loop counter not equal to 10

By contrast, in the count down case the assembly language looks something like this

DEC lpc   ; Decrement loop counterBNZ loop  ; Branch if non zero

Evidently, because of the ‘specialness’ of zero, more efficient code can be generated.

So why don’t you see C programs littered with these count down constructs? Well counting down has a major limitation. If you need to use the loop variable as an index into an array then you have a problem. For example, let’s say I wanted to zero the elements of an array. Using the count down technique you might be tempted to do this:

uint8_t bar[10];uint8_t lpc;do{   bar[lpc] = 0; // Error! First time through results in index beyond end of array} while (--lpc);

Evidently it doesn’t work. You can of course modify the code to make it work. However doing so typically loses you all the efficiency gains, such that you are better off with a standard up-counting for loop.

        As a parting thought, concepts such as these are second nature to assembly language programmers – all of whom do this sort of thing instinctively. As a result, if you are really interested in getting the best out of your C compiler, you could do a lot worse than learning how to program your target processor in assembly language. Does this defeat one of the objectives in programming in a high level language – yes. However, for giving you insight in terms of what is going on under the hood it cannot be beaten.

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