Optimization

Optimization seeks to improve the performance of a program. A true optimum may be too costly to obtain because most optimization techniques interact, and the entire process of optimization must be iterated until there is no further change. In practice, therefore, we restrict ourselves to a fixed sequence of transformations that leads to useful improvement in commonly-occurring cases. The primary goal is to compensate for inefficiencies arising from the characteristics of the source language, not to lessen the effects of poor coding by the programmer. These inefficiencies are inherent in the concept of a high level language, which seeks to suppress detail and thereby simplify the task of implementing an algorithm.