Align 透明地提升效率

Align  透明地提升效率 

刺猬@http://blog.csdn.net/littlehedgehog 

 

 

 

关于Align的,网上摘录了下。主要不是说how ，而是为什么的问题——为什么要用align？

 align,一般多用于数据段，主要是为了提高cpu的访问效率，按照双字对齐 [这里引用的是原帖]  的访问效率最高。所谓数据对齐，是指数据所在的内存地址必须是该数据长度的整数倍，DWORD数据的内存起始地址能被4除尽，WORD数据的内存起始地址能被2除尽，x86   CPU能直接访问对齐的数据，当他试图访问一个未对齐的数据时，会在内部进行一系列的调整，这些调整对于程序来说是透明的，但是会降低运行速度，所以编译器在编译程序时会尽量保证数据对齐。 例如 如果 从内存中取一个字变量 X ,如果X是偶地址的,那么一次就能把X取过来,如果是奇地址,则要取2次,再拼起来,才能得到一个完整的X,,,所以对X这样的字变量,应该要求系统对其"偶对齐",使其处于偶地址中,方便存取操作。

也就是说 对于《自己动手写操作系统》书中的align，其实都可以去掉的，这里的align本是作为程序优化的一种手段而已。

 

下面有篇关于align的文章。节选自《The Art of Assembly Language》 大家可以看看

In order to write fast programs, you need to ensure that you properly align data objects in memory. Proper alignment means that the starting address for an object is a multiple of some size, usually the size of object if the object's size is a power of two for values up to 16 bytes in length. For objects greater than 16 bytes, aligning the object on an 8-byte or 16-byte address boundary is probably sufficient. For objects less than 16 bytes, aligning the object at an address that is the next power of two greater than the object's size is usually fine.[11] Accessing data that is not aligned on at an appropriate address may require extra time; so if you want to ensure that your program runs as rapidly as possible, you should try to align data objects according to their size.
Data becomes misaligned whenever you allocate storage for different-sized objects in adjacent memory locations. For example, if you declare a byte variable, it will consume one byte of storage, and the next variable you declare in that declaration section will have the address of that byte object plus one. If the byte variable's address happens to be an address that is an even address, then the variable following that byte will start at an odd address. If that following variable is a word or double word object, then its starting address will not be optimal. In this section, we'll explore ways to ensure that a variable is aligned at an appropriate starting address based on that object's size.
Modern 80x86 processors don't actually connect directly to memory. Instead, there is a special memory buffer on the CPU known as the cache (pronounced "cash") that acts as a high-speed intermediary between the CPU and main memory. Although the cache handles the details automatically for you, one fact you should know is that accessing data objects in memory is sometimes more efficient if the address of the object is an even multiple of the object's size. Therefore, it's a good idea to align four-byte objects (double words) on addresses that are an even multiple of four. Likewise, it's most efficient to align two-byte objects on even addresses. You can efficiently access single-byte objects at any address.

 

另外 在《深入理解计算机系统》书中有一节是专门叙述相关内容的，有兴趣的读者可以看看。顺便也推荐下《深入理解计算机系统》，一本不可多得的好书

 

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