The Software Optimization Cookbook

Get the most out of Intel IA-32 platforms with Intel® EM64T and multi-core processing.

The Software Optimization Cookbook, Second Edition, provides updated recipes for high-performance applications on Intel platforms. Through simple explanations and examples, four Intel experts show you how to address performance issues with algorithms, memory access, branch prediction, automatic vectorization, SIMD instructions, multiple threads, and floating-point calculations.

Software developers learn how to take advantage of Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel® EM64T), multi-core processing, Hyper-Threading Technology, OpenMP*, and multimedia extensions. This book guides you through the growing collection of software tools, compiler switches, and coding optimizations, showing you efficient ways to improve the performance of software applications for Intel platforms.

Highlights include:

Choosing the right algorithm

Automatic vectorization and hints on how to guide the compiler

Compiler support for multi-threading

The performance impacts of shared L2 and L3 caches

Loop optimizations and when to use the compiler for performance gain

Use of intrinsics to exploit SIMD technology

Software developers who want to understand the latest techniques for delivering more performance and to fine-tune their coding skills will benefit from this book.

Customer Comments

"A must-read text for anyone who intends to write performance-critical applications for the Intel processor family."

—Robert van Engelen, Professor, Florida State University

"This book simplifies the task for engineers who strive to develop high-performance software without sacrificing source code readability or having to understand all the nitty-gritty details of IA-32 processors."

—Lars Petter Endresen, Doctor of Engineering, Physics Scandpower Petroleum Technology