Duff's Device

In computer science, Duff's device is an optimized implementation of a serial copy that uses a technique widely applied in assembly language for loop unwinding. Its discovery is credited to Tom Duff in November 1983, who at the time was working for Lucasfilm. It is perhaps the most dramatic use of case label fall-through in the C programming language to date. Duff does not claim credit for discovering the concept of loop unrolling, just this particular expression of it in C.

Read more about Duff's Device:  Background, Original Version, Why It Works, Performance, Stroustrup's Version, Books

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