Executable size

Large executables are bad for many reasons. They cause excessive paging of program text on virtual memory systems. In embedded microprocessor-based systems with small memories, it may be impossible to load them. Finally, large executables take up disk space.

Unfortunately, most users have come to view large executables as a fact of life in software built from reusable components, particularly components built from highly-coupled collections like the NIH Class Library. This section explains three techniques we have used to deal with this problem:

• Minimizing inlines

• Minimizing linkage dependencies

• Minimizing the number of static objects defined in headers