C++ All-In-One For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5. Analyzing Your Visual C++ 2008 Code

In This Chapter

• Working with Performance Wizard

• Creating a code profile

How fast does it work? That's the question many developers ask when the application is finally put together because it's the question that the customer will ask when the application is delivered. No one wants to spend hours waiting for an application to perform its task. In fact, people want an application that produces results as close to instantaneously as possible.

Fortunately, Visual C++ makes it possible to check the speed of your application and locate areas that don't work as quickly as they could. Of course, you must still make the changes required to produce optimal results — the tools can only point to potential sources of problems, not tell you how to correct them.

Note

You always have to consider the consequences of actions you take. An application doesn't exist in a vacuum. When you make an application run faster, you can also cause it to perform unreliably or break security rules to get the last bit of speed. As the famous saying goes, "Speed kills." An application that goes too fast and breaks the rules in the process can kill your data, which can ultimately kill your company. Consequently, you must always consider speed improvements in light of how they affect the application environment as a whole.

Using Performance Wizard

Performance Wizard helps you check your code for potential performance issues. It's simple to use, as you see in the following steps ...