article Free Access Share on Authors' response Authors: Walter Tichy Univ. of Karlsruhe, Karlsruche, Germany Univ. of Karlsruhe, Karlsruche, GermanyView Profile , Rolf Adams Univ. of Karlsruhe, Karlsruche, Germany Univ. of Karlsruhe, Karlsruche, GermanyView Profile , Annette Weinert Univ. of Karlsruhe, Karlsruche, Germany Univ. of Karlsruhe, Karlsruche, GermanyView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and MethodologyVolume 4Issue 2April 1995 pp 217–219https://doi.org/10.1145/210134.210438Published:01 April 1995Publication History 0citation277DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads277Last 12 Months2Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

When a single software module in a large system is modified, a potentially large number of other modules may have to be recompiled. By reducing both the number of compilations and the amount of input processed by each compilation run, the turnaround time after changes can be reduced significantly. Potential time savings are measured in a medium-sized, industrial software project over a three-year period. The results indicate that a large number of compilations caused by traditional compilation unit dependencies may be redundant. On the available data, a mechanism that compares compiler output saves about 25 percent, smart recompilation saves 50 percent, and smartest recompilation may save up to 80 percent of compilation work. Furthermore, all compilation methods other than smartest recompilation process large amounts of unused environment data. In the project analyzed, the average environment symbols are actually used. Reading only the actually used symbols would reduce total compiler input by about 50 percent. Combining smart recompilation with a reduction in environment processing might double to triple perceived compilation speed and double linker speed, without sacrificing static type safety.