linux下likely和 unlikey

节自《Linux   Kernel   Development》   2nd   ，   第二章 
(书可以在http://elinux.cn下载) 

Branch   Annotation 
The   gcc   C   compiler   has   a   built-in   directive   that   optimizes   conditional   branches   as   either   very   likely   taken   or   very   unlikely   taken.   The   compiler   uses   the   directive   to   appropriately   optimize   the   branch.   The   kernel   wraps   the   directive   in   very   easy-to-use   macros,   likely()   and   unlikely(). 

For   example,   consider   an   if   statement   such   as   the   following: 

if   (foo)   { 
                /*   ...   */ 
} 


To   mark   this   branch   as   very   unlikely   taken   (that   is,   likely   not   taken): 

/*   we   predict   foo   is   nearly   always   zero   ...   */ 
if   (unlikely(foo))   { 
                /*   ...   */ 
} 


Conversely,   to   mark   a   branch   as   very   likely   taken: 

/*   we   predict   foo   is   nearly   always   nonzero   ...   */ 
if   (likely(foo))   { 
                /*   ...   */ 
} 


You   should   only   use   these   directives   when   the   branch   direction   is   overwhelmingly   a   known   priori   or   when   you   want   to   optimize   a   specific   case   at   the   cost   of   the   other   case.   This   is   an   important   point:   These   directives   result   in   a   performance   boost   when   the   branch   is   correctly   predicted,   but   a   performance   loss   when   the   branch   is   mispredicted.   A   very   common   usage   for   unlikely()   and   likely()   is   error   conditions.   As   one   might   expect,   unlikely()   finds   much   more   use   in   the   kernel   because   if   statements   tend   to   indicate   a   special   case.