Optimizing C++

Optimizing C++ was written to prove that a knowledge of optimization is essential to a professional programmer. A simplistic approach, such as getting more memory or faster processor, is not always feasible. Programmers often have little control over the hardware on which their programs are to be run. That’s why Optimizing C++ provides programmers with a practical, real-world approach to program optimization. The heart of Optimizing C++ consists of several case studies of database problems that show various searching and compression algorithms, the author’s source code, and careful explanation of the solutions. The author use hash coding, caching, Radix40, and binary-coded decimal (BCD) data representation in a supermarket price-lookup database. Distribution-counting sort algorithms and bitmaps that store data efficiently are both used to help build a mailing-list system. In some of the most useful sections of this book, the author looks at Huffman coding and dynamic hashing. The first question you have to answer is whether your program needs optimization at all. If it does, you have to determine what part of the program is the culprit, and what resource is being overused. And then perhaps you can gain benefit from this book.