An automatic framework for dynamic data structures optimization in C

Modern embedded devices require highly optimized code in order to efficiently run the wide range of applications they are designed for. However, most modern applications are getting more and more dynamic, which at the software level, translates in the use of dynamic data structures like dynamic arrays and lists. State of the art solutions for the optimization of these dynamic structures operate with code written in C++ or higher level languages. This work presents an automatic framework for the dynamic data structure optimization of applications written in C. The major advantages of this framework are the rich set of ready-to-use data structures in C that a developer can use to focus on the application itself and the fact that it targets applications in C rather than a higher level language. Moreover, the communication with existing state of the art optimization mechanisms in C++ provides the flexibility in optimization and the customization in the final solutions, needed for modern applications from many domains. The real world applicability of the proposed framework is proved by integrating it with well-known benchmarks written in C. Experimental results show possible reduction of data accesses by 7% and memory footprint by 33%.