How does loop unrolling improve performance?

What is loop unrolling and how does it work?

Loop unrolling is an optimization technique that reduces the overhead of loop control by increasing the number of operations performed in each iteration.

How does this technique actually improve performance?

By decreasing the number of iterations, loop unrolling minimizes the loop control overhead and can enhance instruction-level parallelism.

Are there any downsides to loop unrolling?

Yes, excessive unrolling can lead to increased code size and may negatively impact cache performance.

In what scenarios is loop unrolling most beneficial?

It's most beneficial in performance-critical applications with predictable loop iterations, like numerical computations.