Integer type in C. Unsigned all?

Question

4.00/5 (1 vote)

See more:

Is it worth to change all the int and char types in my C program to unsigned, by the time I use only physical numbers?

Is this change will make my programm faster?

Posted 29-Nov-14 3:34am

GeorgeGkas

Add a Solution

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-29T03:49:00

Solution 1

No, it won't make your program any faster.
The CPU doesn't make any distinction between signed and unsigned integers - they are all treated as 16, 32, or 64 bit numbers (depending on environment) in exactly the same way.

If you want to speed you program up, then start by timing it to find out where it's slowest, and focus your attention on that! Slow code is more often caused because of inefficient algorithms, rather than type of integer used. :laugh:

Posted 29-Nov-14 3:49am

OriginalGriff

Comments

[no name] 29-Nov-14 10:08am

is there any program that can make such calculations?

OriginalGriff 29-Nov-14 10:24am

Not really - because it isn't a "Line-but-line" thing: you need to start at a high level and decide which program "chunks" to check first - and then focus in on them. And don't forget, adding timing checks will slow your code down!

There are profiling tools, but they generally don't help much because they don't know what it important and what isn't in you application - so they tend to generate a lot of information and make it difficult to see what you need to see.

[no name] 29-Nov-14 10:36am

ok I understand. Do you want to suggest me such programs just for the record?

OriginalGriff 29-Nov-14 10:52am

I haven't played with C profilers for so long that I can;t suggest anything - I can't even remember the ones I used (just that they were all universally useless for one reason or another, and finding that out always took at least twice as long as doing it manually!)
If you want to look, then Google should find you some.