Thursday Nov 17, 2011  How John Got 15x Improvement Without
Really Trying  The following article was published on a Sun
Microsystems website a number of years ago by John Feo. It is
still useful and worth preserving. So I'm republishing it here. 
How I Got 15x Improvement Without Really Trying  John Feo, Sun
Microsystems  Taking ten "personal" program codes used in
scientific and engineering research, the author was able to get
from 2 to 15 times performance improvement easily by applying
some simple general optimization techniques.   Scientific
research based on computer simulation depends on the simulation
for advancement. The research can advance only as fast as the
computational codes can execute. The codes' efficiency
determines both the rate and quality of results. In the same
amount of time, a faster program can generate more results and
can carry out a more detailed simulation of physical phenomena
than a slower program. Highly optimized programs help science
advance quickly and insure that monies su