Question

I would like to program productive and keep my FileSize very small.
However I would like to know a few tips how do accomplish that.

For example what is better for a small FileSize:

Either:

if .... = '1' then begin
 ...
end;

or:

if ..... = inttostr(1) then begin
...
end;

or:

if .... = inttostr($0001) then begin
...
end;

or:

case of intvar
  1: ...
  2: ...
end;

Then there is something that I tried and I was surprised.
I made another Unit in my project that stores Strings as constants and then I use the constant vars to replace the strings in my project. For some reason this raises my FileSize although I replace double used Strings as a var now.

Also is it better to store stuff in vars than put them directly into the code?!
For example:

Function1(param1, param2, param3); // this code is used about 20 times in my project

or is it better if I:

Avar = Function1 (param1,param2,param3); // Store this once in a var and then replace it

And what about:

if ... = TRUE 

or:

if ....

Same as:

if .... = FALSE

or:

if not(...)...

Any other tips to program productive for a smaller FileSize?

Thanks in advance.

I use Delphi7

Answer 1

I’m sorry to be blunt, but you are putting the cart before the horse.

If you really want to know how to make your executable smaller without already knowing what differences will result from your code variations in your given examples, you should just stop right now and read/learn/practice until you know more about the language and the compiler.

Then you’ll understand that your question makes little sense per se, as you can already see by all the pertinent comments you got.

• the exact same source code can result in vastly different executables and different source code can result in the same executable, depending on the compiler options/optimizations
• if your main goal is to micro-manage/control the generated exe, program directly in assembler.
• if you want to know what is generated by the compiler, learn how to use the CPU View.
• program for correctness first, then readability/maintainability
• only then, if needed (implies using correct metrics/tools), you can optimize for speed, memory usage or file size (probably the least useful/needed)