Question

I’m wondering when (if ever) I should be pulling if statement out of substantial loops in order to help optimize speed?

for(i=0;i<File.NumBits;i++)
  if(File.Format.Equals(FileFormats.A))
    ProcessFormatA(File[i]);
  else
    ProcessFormatB(File[i]);

into

if(File.Format.Equals(FileFormats.A))
  for(i=0;i<File.NumBits;i++)
    ProcessFormatA(File[i]);
else
  for(i=0;i<File.NumBits;i++)
    ProcessFormatB(File[i]);

I’m not sure if the compiler will do this type of optimization for me, or if this is considered good coding practice because I would imagine it would make code much harder to read / maintain if the loops were more complex.

Thanks for any input / suggestions.

Answer 1

When you are finished the code and the profiler tells you that the for loops are a bottleneck. No sooner.