To: Jean-Luc Lachance <jllachan@nsd.ca>
Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org, pgsql-interfaces@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [INTERFACES] Upgrading the backend's error-message infrastructure
In-reply-to: <3E70FB55.68CEDE4@nsd.ca> 
References: <9168.1047588660@sss.pgh.pa.us> <3E70FB55.68CEDE4@nsd.ca>
Comments: In-reply-to Jean-Luc Lachance <jllachan@nsd.ca>
	message dated "Thu, 13 Mar 2003 16:42:45 -0500"
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 17:04:05 -0500
Message-ID: <9696.1047593045@sss.pgh.pa.us>
From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>

Jean-Luc Lachance <jllachan@nsd.ca> writes:
> Why trade 5 characters for a 4 byte integer -- a saving of 1 byte?

It's more than that: in one case you have something on the order of
a "load immediate" instruction, whereas in the other case the code
is like "load pointer to global string", plus you need a 6-byte string
literal (maybe costing you 8 bytes depending on alignment
considerations).  Also, depending on your machine's approach to
addressing of global data, that "load pointer" thingy could be multiple
instructions.  So we're talking about at least six, possibly 8-12 bytes
per elog call --- and there are thousands of 'em in the backend.

Admittedly, it's a micro-optimization, but it seems worth doing since it
won't have any direct impact on code legibility.

			regards, tom lane