Related:

• une vt. [from automotive or musical usage] To optimize a program or system for a particular environment, esp.
  by adjusting numerical parameters designed as hooks for tuning, e....
• hot spot: n. 1. [primarily used by C/UNIX programmers, but spreading] It is received wisdom that in most programs, less than 10% of the code eats 90% of the execution time
  if one were to graph instruction visits versus code addresses, one would typically see a few huge spikes amidst a lot of low-level noise....
• hand-hacking: n. 1. The practice of translating {hot spot}s from an {HLL} into hand-tuned assembler, as opposed to trying to coerce the compiler into generating better code.
  Both the term and the practice are becoming uncommon....
• bum: 1. vt. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity.
  I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code....
• hot spot n. 1. [primarily used by C/Unix programmers, but spreading] It is received wisdom that in most programs, less than 10% of the code eats 90% of the execution time
  if one were to graph instruction visits versus code addresses, one would typically see a few huge spikes amidst a lot of low-level noise....
• bum 1. vt. To make highly efficient, either in time or space, often at the expense of clarity.
  I managed to bum three more instructions out of that code....
• profile: n. 1. A control file for a program, esp. a text file automatically read from each user's home directory and intended to be easily modified by the user in order to customize the program's behavior.
  Used to avoid {hardcoded} choices (see also {dot file}, {rc file})....
• weak: vt. 1. To change slightly, usually in reference to a value.
  Also used synonymously with {twiddle}. If a program is almost correct, rather than figure out the precise problem you might just keep tweaking it until it works....
• bit twiddling: n. 1. (pejorative) An exercise in tuning (see {tune}) in which incredible amounts of time and effort go to produce little noticeable improveme
  often with the result that the code becomes incomprehensible....