Optimization

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Optimization is about to chose the best element from some set of available alternatives, as referred in mathematical optimization as for instance applied in computer chess to optimize evaluation weights with automated tuning methods, and program optimizations, which is the topic covered on this page. Most importantly there is the algorithmic optimization on design level such as using alpha-beta rather than plain minimax, followed by source code optimizations, and finally Compiler optimizations.

=Premature Optimization= As a warning on premature optimization a quote by Donald Knuth : We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.

=Program Optimizations= Program Optimization is a necessary part of a decent chess program. It comes in two forms, compiler-end and program-end. Compiler-end optimization involves using specific flags to get a quick program at the cost of speed of compile and memory usage, whereas program-end optimization involves using inline functions and things like that.


 * Avoiding Branches
 * Performance Measurement
 * Profiling
 * SIMD and SWAR Techniques

=See also=
 * Automated Tuning
 * Genetic Programming
 * NUMA
 * Simulated Annealing

=Publications=
 * Bruce W. Leverett (1981). Register allocation in optimizing compilers. Ph.D. thesis, Carnegie Mellon University
 * Bruce W. Leverett (1982). Topics in Code Generation and Register Allocation. Carnegie Mellon University
 * Bruce W. Leverett (1983). Register allocation in optimizing compilers. UMI Research Press

=Forum Posts=
 * Beginner's guide to graphical profiling by Matthew Lai, CCC, September 10, 2016 » Profiling, Giraffe
 * Re: Beginner's guide to graphical profiling by Marco Costalba, CCC, September 10, 2016 » Stockfish


 * Reliable speed comparison: some math required by Marco Costalba, CCC, February 27, 2018 » Nodes per Second
 * Performance loss when removing unused function by Oliver Brausch, CCC, October 05, 2020
 * Different performance of equal executables by Oliver Brausch, CCC, October 24, 2020

=External Links=

Program Optimization

 * Program optimization from Wikipedia
 * Compiler optimization from Wikipedia
 * Software optimization resources. C++ and assembly. Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X by Agner Fog
 * Programming Optimization by Paul Hsieh

Mathematical Optimization

 * Mathematical optimization from Wikipedia
 * Global optimization from Wikipedia
 * Optimization problem from Wikipedia

=References= Up one Level