__builtin_expect
Purpose
Indicates that an expression is likely to evaluate to a specified value. The compiler may use this knowledge to direct optimizations.
Prototype
long __builtin_expect (long expression, long value);
Parameters
expression
Should be an integral-type expression.
value
Must be a constant literal.
Usage
If the expression does not actually evaluate at run time to the predicted value, performance may suffer. Therefore, this built-in function should be used with caution.