executable size

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:25:36 -0500, Gary Whatmore <no at spam.sp> wrote:

> jovo Wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> Today I compiled my old two module console program with d-2.50.
>> It uses only std.c.time, std.c.stdio, std.random and templates.
>> Compiled with -O -release, on windows.
>> Executable size (d-2.50): 4.184 kb.
>> Trayed with d-1.30: 84 kb.
>>
>> Is it expected?
>
> This is something you shouldn't worry too much about. Hard drives and  
> system memory are getting bigger. 4 megabytes isn't that much when you  
> have soon 4 terabytes of space. A single PC rarely has one million  
> executables. So, keep writing more code. That's what the space is for.

I hate this excuse, it's used all the time.  The reality is that  
executable size *does* matter, and it always will.  Smaller programs load  
and run faster.

The other reality is that this is a toolchain issue, and not a language or  
spec issue.  With improved tools, this gets better, so it's not worth  
worrying about now.  When D gets full shared-library support, this problem  
goes away.

Array appending performance/invalidity used to be one of the most common  
negatives cited on D.  Now, nobody talks about it because it's been  
fixed.  You will see the same thing with exe size once D uses shared libs.

-Steve