Thor Lancelot Simon wrote:

> ...but it turned out that GCC is smart enough to do the obvious
> optimization with the shift.  If it can do % constant I'd be quite
> surprised if it can't do * constant, but it's not exactly tough to
> compile a quick example to assembly and check.

Yes, GCC turn division (and modulo) into multiplication for certain
architectures (alpha comes to mind).  It's surprisingly tricky.  There
was a PLDI paper about it in -95.

    -- Lennart