Profiling C++ Programs

01 January 1989

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In this column I'm going to discuss how to profile C++ programs. By `profiling` I mean the art of figuring out how to make changes to a program to make it run faster. Ideally, we always hope to find little changes that make the program run significantly faster. Most of what we've learned about profiling C programs carries over to C++, but C++ adds some of its own complications, which we shall shortly see. Let's begin by reviewing how a good programmer profiles C code.