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How often does branchless programming actually matter? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 year ago by firelizzard@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev

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I've started noticing articles and YouTube videos touting the benefits of branchless programming, making it sound like this is a hot new technique (or maybe a hot old technique) that everyone should be using. But it seems like it's only really applicable to data processing applications (as opposed to general programming) and there are very few times in my career where I've needed to use, much less optimize, data processing code. And when I do, I use someone else's library.

How often does branchless programming actually matter in the day to day life of an average developer?

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[–] lowleveldata@programming.dev -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Can't imagine any practical difference performance wise. Maybe it's about making the flow easier to understand? I do recall that Sonarqube sometimes complains when you have too much branchings in a single function

[–] firelizzard@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you're writing data processing code, there are real advantages to avoiding branches, and its especially helpful for SIMD/vectorization such as with AVX instructions or code for a GPU (i.e. shaders). My question is not about whether its helpful - it definitely is in the right circumstances - but about how often those circumstances occur.

[–] lowleveldata@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

Ya, and my examination is I don't think it has practical impacts for day to day tasks. Unless you're writing AVX instructions day to day but then you already knew the answer.