ARM > Efficient C for ARM > Efficiency

by David Thomas on

Efficiency

Why do we need efficient software?

  • Competitive advantage
    • Software that runs faster and in less space (than our competitors’)
  • Increased possibilities
    • Increased speed and smaller binaries allow for additional functionality (over our competitors’)
  • Gets us into more markets
    • A smaller app can run on smaller devices (more devices, more royalties)

Remarks

A couple of definitions:

  • Acting or producing effectively with a minimum of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.
  • Exhibiting a high ratio of output to input.

Moore’s law defence:

  • Computers double in speed every 18 months. Why bother re-working your code when you can just wait 18 months and get a faster machine?

Overly-simplistic example:

  • Let’s say we have a movie player which runs at 10fps. Our competitor has a movie player which runs at 20fps.
  • If we don’t optimise our player, in 18 months’ time our competitor’s player will be running at 40fps. We’ll be running at 20fps. Only half as fast.
  • If we beat them now, we’ll be able to beat them in future.

Future-proofing:

In 18 months’ time we’ll be on version N + 1 of the software. Which will have even more features to support.