Summary
The topic of this chapter was fine-tuning the code. We started with Delphi compiler settings which can, in some cases, significantly change the code execution speed, and we learned what those situations are.
Then I introduced a simple but effective optimization—extracting common expressions. This optimization served as an introduction to the CPU Window, which can help us analyze compiled Delphi code.
After that I returned to basics. Creating a fast program means knowing how Delphi works and so I looked into built-in data types. We saw what is fast and what is not.
As a logical follow-up to data types we looked into methods—what happens when you pass parameters to a method and how to speed that up. We also reviewed a few surprising implementation details which can create problems in your code. I ended the chapter with three practical examples. Firstly, we used pointers to speed up bitmap processing. Next, a short section on assembler code has shown how to write a fast assembler replacement...
