Optimized C++: Proven Techniques for Heightened Performance

In today’s fast and competitive world, a program’s performance is just as important to customers as the features it provides. This practical guide teaches developers performance-tuning principles that enable optimization in C++. You’ll learn how to make code that already embodies best practices of C++ design run faster and consume fewer resources on any computer—whether it’s a watch, phone, workstation, supercomputer, or globe-spanning network of servers.

Author Kurt Guntheroth provides several running examples that demonstrate how to apply these principles incrementally to improve existing code so it meets customer requirements for responsiveness and throughput. The advice in this book will prove itself the first time you hear a colleague exclaim, “Wow, that was fast. Who fixed something?”

Locate performance hot spots using the profiler and software timers
Learn to perform repeatable experiments to measure performance of code changes
Optimize use of dynamically allocated variables
Improve performance of hot loops and functions
Speed up string handling functions
Recognize efficient algorithms and optimization patterns
Learn the strengths—and weaknesses—of C++ container classes
View searching and sorting through an optimizer’s eye
Make efficient use of C++ streaming I/O functions
Use C++ thread-based concurrency features effectively