Take the 2-minute tour ×  I often have to write code that I
would like to optimize for performance, and I often have several
solutions to a particular problem.  Is there a simple way to
determine the number of CPU cycles a particular
statement/function would take? I'm not talking about complex
code that access the file system, Windows APIs or the network,
I'm talking about comparing half a dozen lines of C++ code to
determine which code would be more efficient.  The classic
example would be comparing ++i with i++. The former is faster,
but without knowing that, how would I be able to determine this
myself?  I'd rather not install costly performance tools (e.g.
Intel's tools), but find a simple way to get to the bottom. Is
there a way to see the Assembler code that is generated by C++
code - without debugging?  Any other suggestions and/or
approaches are of course welcome.  share|improve this question
No, with today's CPUs you can't look as the assembly code and
tell how long it takes. Think caches, branch pre