vbGore Free Online RPG Engine

I read through the "Understanding Visual Basic" section on the site and I got to messing around. Here's what I found:

Compile to P-Code.
When I used this option my program compiled within 1 second and the executable size dropped by almost 200kb (360 to 188).

When I used Compile to Native Code > Optimise for Fast Code it took around 3-4 seconds to compile and the executable size was 360kb.

What is that option removing to make the program so lean and what is P-Code?

P-Code just stands for "Packed Code", its an alternate method for compiling, it aims on making really small programs...

I use P-Code often if my code in Native crashs.


I'm not sure how Native Code works, but from what I understand it attemps on minimizing the use of DLL libraries by including more of the code within the program from the DLL, so it speeds it up in a way - but it still requires the use of linkage to the library.

Also there is a difference between P-Code and Native Code... P-Code remains as a "high level" programming, thus the computer must work on interpretting it with more effort, where as native code has already been interpretted, therefore the computer does not need to do as much work on it...

Of course I could be completely wrong here

P-Code compiles so fast in comparison to Native Code since without all the optimizations ticked in Native Code, it has a lot more to write. The optimizations in Native Code actually remove features.

You never want to use P-Code unless using Native Code isn't an option. Most of the time this will never be the case, unless you're doing something pretty advanced.

Alright. I read up on it after your posts and I found this for anyone else that has the same question:

P-Code stands for 'pseudo code'. When a program is compiled to P-Code, an interpreter is used (loaded into memory along with the executable) whereas in Native Code one is not (thus the larger file size).

P-Code may compile fast and into small file sizes but if you're going for fast code this isn't the option to use. It's also an alternative for packaging and deployment.

Compiling to Native Code > Optimise for Fast Code gives you the best results in terms of program that executes faster than the other options but the downfall is large file sizes. This option is mainly suited for those with large programs that are being distributed through a high speed connection (Cable/LAN) or on CD.

Compiling to Native Code > Optimise for Small Code gives you a slightly smaller file size intended for internet distribution but executes slower than Optimise for Fast Code.

Compile To Native Code > No Optimizations means just that - you get no optimizations. With compilers and optimizations, you never know what you're going to get. It's a win/lose, basically. If it works, great - if not, oh well. If you're returned errors when using Advanced Optimizations, using this option would be ideal. Be aware that your file size will be the largest with this option.

Create Symbolic Debug info. This option I have no clue about. It creates a debug file (obviously) associated with your executable when compiled but I have no idea how to access it or what it has in it (probably debug information, lol).