Hjdcti

I need to improve the efficiency of my program and, using the profiler, have narrowed the problem down to 2 key areas, but I am having trouble coming up with ways to make the program run better.

Based on my profiler's report, it seems to be telling me that my if functions are inefficient. Whats a better way to achieve a better result?

Character* FindAttackTarget() const
 
 float weakestHp = FLT_MAX;
 Character* weakestEnemy = nullptr;
 uint64_t weakestCharId = INT64_MAX;

 //Only attack characters that are within attack range
 auto& gameChars = m_pGame->m_gameCharacters;


 for (size_t i = 0; i < gameChars.size(); ++i)
 
 auto& c = gameChars[i];
 if (Location.Dist(c.GetLocation()) <= AttackRange &&
 c.HP > 0 &&
 c.Team != Team)
 
 

 return weakestEnemy;
 

The tests c.HP > 0 and c.Team != Team are probably blazingly fast tests. Location.Dist(c.GetLocation()) <= AttackRange probably involves the square-root of the sum of the squares of the difference of coordinates in two or three dimensions. Plus, GetLocation() may involve memory allocation and/or copying constructors. It is by far the slowest test, yet you are testing it first! Take advantage of the short-circuit logical and operators by reordering the tests so the fastest tests are done first, so the slowest test may not even need to be executed, resulting in faster execution.

Bonus: the square-root can be avoided; simply compute the square distance, and compare against the $AttackRange^2$ (computed outside of the loop) for another speed gain.