Obfuscation - optimisation?

Wed Nov 24 12:31:00 GMT 2004

Hi there,
>>>> When using classes one can use obfuscation/optimisation tools
>>>> on class-files (e.g. progaurd) in order to reduce footprint,
>> But that is then the way to go - obfuscation on class-basis and
>> then straight ahead?!
> Well, what do you want to achieve? All that "obfuscation" would do
> in the gcj context is break debugging.
Well, it would make all classes significant smaller - at least it does 
in the class-file situation. All the niceAndDescriptiveMethodName() 
methods and fields will have their names decimated into something that 
does not take up so much space.
Hence, the final program will have a smaller footprint when fitting it 
into an embedded device with not that much flash. And I assume that 
there will some effect in memory usage, as well - maybe not...
> It says here:
> "The shrinking step produces the best results for programs that use 
> only small parts of their libraries. The obfuscation step can 
> significantly shrink large programs even further, since the 
> identifiers of their many internal references can be replaced by
> short identifiers.
Bingo! :-)
> "Timings are mainly governed by the fixed overhead of reading jars
> and initializing data structures. The actual shrinking, optimization,
> and obfuscation are typically fast in comparison.
>> "Memory usage (the amount of physical memory used by ProGuard while 
> processing) is governed by the basic java virtual machine and the 
> total size of the library jars and program jars."
Well, these are comments regarding running proguard - has nothing to do 
with the final program...
Best regards,
 Martin