The compiler performs many transformations on your application to generate the best possible code. Examples of such transformations are storing values in registers instead of memory, removing superfluous code, reordering computations in a more efficient order, and replacing arithmetic operations by cheaper operations.

The linker should also be considered an integral part of the compilation system, because some optimizations are performed by the linker. For instance, all unused functions and variables are removed and not included in the final output.