The size of compiled C code is becoming increasingly critical in embedded systems, where the economic incentives to reduce ROM sizes are very compelling:

• Product managers have an almost insatiable demand for cost-effective solutions in the mass production of consumer goods such as cellular phones, electric motor controls, and automotive engineering applications. Reducing code size means reducing system costs.

• Customers want the functionality of existing designs to be enhanced via additional code sequences. Unfortunately they no longer fit available memory at a certain point. Code compaction means saving additional engineering effort and extending application lifetime while speeding up time to market.