Question

xor eax, eax will always set eax to zero, right? So, why does MSVC++ sometimes put it in my executable’s code? Is it more efficient that mov eax, 0?

012B1002  in          al,dx 
012B1003  push        ecx  
    int i = 5;
012B1004  mov         dword ptr [i],5 
    return 0;
012B100B  xor         eax,eax 

Also, what does it mean to do in al, dx?

Answer 1

Yes, it is more efficient.

The opcode is shorter than mov eax, 0, only 2 bytes, and the processor recognizes the special case and treats it as a mov eax, 0 without a false read dependency on eax, so the execution time is the same.