C Compiler Optimization

• Shortens development time

• Eliminates the need for hand benchmarking

• Produces more efficient code

• Simplifies convergence on the best speed / code size solution.

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Optimization shortens the amount of time it takes for a code developer to optimize their code. It eliminates the need for hand benchmarking and converges on the best set of code. It is particularly useful if you're using arrays. Arrays are easy to understand and to write the code for, but they're less efficient than implementing the arrays as pointers in C. The optimizer will do that for you, saving a lot of time, and producing a better result.

We have multiple levels of optimization because as you do more and more optimization, you tend to increase the size of the code and sometimes it just won't fit in memory. So the developer has to study their particular application and usually through experimentation, identify the level of optimization that produces the code with the optimal size and speed combination for their specific application.