Reducing application startup time by optimizing spatial locality of instructions in executables

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processor;
• and
• logic, stored on the computer-readable medium and executed on the processor, for:
• parsing a source code file into a plurality of functions;
• ranking each particular function of the plurality of functions based upon an order of occurrence of each particular function in the source code file;
• generating a weight score for each function of the plurality of functions, wherein the weight score of each particular function corresponds to whether or not the particular function is called conditionally;
• and
• generating an object code file such that the plurality of functions are ordered in the object code file based upon the corresponding rankings and weight scores.

A method for generating an application, comprising:

• parsing, on a plurality of processors, a source code file corresponding to the application into a plurality of functions;
• ranking, on the plurality of processors, each particular function of the plurality of functions based upon an order of occurrence of each particular function in the source code file;
• generating, on the plurality of processors, a weight score for each function of the plurality of functions, wherein the weight score of each particular function corresponds to whether or not the particular function is called conditionally;
• generating, on the plurality of processors, an object code file, corresponding to the application, such that the plurality of functions are ordered in the object code file based upon the corresponding rankings and weight scores;
• and
• storing, on the plurality of processors, the object code file on computer-readable storage medium such that the application can be executed by a processor.

A computer programming product, comprising:

• a non-transitive computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• logic, stored on the computer-readable storage medium for execution on a plurality of processors, for generating a computer application, comprising logic for:
• parsing a source code file into a plurality of functions;
• ranking each particular function of the plurality of functions based upon an order of occurrence of each particular function in the source code file;
• generating a weight score for each function of the plurality of functions, wherein the weight score of each particular function corresponds to whether or not the particular function is called conditionally;
• and
• generating an object code file, corresponding to the application, such that the plurality of functions are ordered in the object code file based upon the corresponding rankings and weight scores.

A compiler for generating a computer application, comprising logic, stored on a non-transitive computer-readable medium for execution on a processor, for:

• parsing a source code file into a plurality of functions;
• ranking each particular function of the plurality of functions based upon an order of occurrence of each particular function in the source code file;
• generating a weight score for each function of the plurality of functions, wherein the weight score of each particular function corresponds to whether or not the particular function is called conditionally;
• and
• generating an object code file such that the plurality of functions are ordered in the object code file based upon the corresponding rankings and weight scores.