These guides are for advanced programmers and software developers only! Agner Fog wrote and updated all of there software optimization guides (There are five guides for around 826 pages [.pdf]). All of the guides are about faster C++ code and about the different microarchitectures. Optimizing software in C++: An optimization guide for Windows, Linux and Mac platforms (167-page PDF) Optimizing subroutines in assembly language: An optimization guide for x86 platforms (164-page PDF) The microarchitecture of Intel, AMD and VIA CPUs: An optimization guide for assembly programmers and compiler makers (198-page PDF) Instruction tables: Lists of instruction latencies, throughputs and micro-operation breakdowns for Intel, AMD and VIA CPUs (241-page PDF) Calling conventions for different C++ compilers and operating systems (56-page PDF) Download all the above manuals together in one zip file. Agner’s code optimization page can be found here. And this guides here from functionx are also very good for Visual C++ and CLI programers. I hope this maybe helps someone. Credits: Agner Fog FunctionX Inc.