Question

I am implementing a DES Encryption algorithm using C++, I benchmark it on a very large document(1.1MB) plaint text.

I have now reached about 1.1 sec on encryption, I need to squeeze off more performance out of it.

I was thinking of obfuscation, will that help in optimizing my code?

Answer 1

I think optimizing your code is the best way to optimize it:

• Fix redundant code
• Rethink the logic
• Remove unused or trivial variables
• Store commonly used values in variables to reduce redundant computation

Obfuscation makes code harder to read by:

• Replacing variable names with underscores or single letters (compilers don’t use variable names)
• Removing whitespace to create a neutron star of unreadable text (compilers do this internally)
• Removing comments (compilers don’t read comments)
• Sometimes adding useless code to further hinder readability (making your program run slower)