> or use an array That's absolutely horrible: you've now introduced the possibility of accidental out-of-bounds access where there previously was none, not to

> or use an array That's absolutely horrible: you've now introduced the possibility of accidental out-of-bounds access where there previously was none, not to mention that you just forced the compiler to put those variables on the stack instead of using registers. Contrived example: int array(int lol) { unsigned counter[3] = {1,5,7}; for (int i = 0; i < lol; i++) counter[i % 3]++; return counter[0] + counter[1] + counter[2]; } int vars(int lol) { unsigned counter1 = 1; unsigned counter2 = 5; unsigned counter3 = 7; for (int i = 0; i < lol; i++) switch(i % 3) { case 0: counter1++; case 1: counter2++; case 2: counter3++; } return counter1 + counter2 + counter3; } The output is quite different (gcc -c -O3 -std=gnu99): Disassembly of section .text: 0000000000000000 <array>: 0: 85 ff test %edi,%edi 2: c7 44 24 e8 01 00 00 movl $0x1,-0x18(%rsp) 9: 00 a: c7 44 24 ec 05 00 00 movl $0x5,-0x14(%rsp) 11: 00 12: c7 44 24 f0 07 00 00 movl $0x7,-0x10(%rsp) 19: 00 1a: 7e 5f jle 7b <array+0x7b> 1c: 41 b8 01 00 00 00 mov $0x1,%r8d 22: 31 c9 xor %ecx,%ecx 24: be 56 55 55 55 mov $0x55555556,%esi 29: eb 1f jmp 4a <array+0x4a> 2b: 0f 1f 44 00 00 nopl 0x0(%rax,%rax,1) 30: 89 c8 mov %ecx,%eax 32: f7 ee imul %esi 34: 89 c8 mov %ecx,%eax 36: c1 f8 1f sar $0x1f,%eax 39: 29 c2 sub %eax,%edx 3b: 8d 04 52 lea (%rdx,%rdx,2),%eax 3e: 89 ca mov %ecx,%edx 40: 29 c2 sub %eax,%edx 42: 48 63 c2 movslq %edx,%rax 45: 44 8b 44 84 e8 mov -0x18(%rsp,%rax,4),%r8d 4a: 89 c8 mov %ecx,%eax 4c: f7 ee imul %esi 4e: 89 c8 mov %ecx,%eax 50: c1 f8 1f sar $0x1f,%eax 53: 29 c2 sub %eax,%edx 55: 8d 04 52 lea (%rdx,%rdx,2),%eax 58: 89 ca mov %ecx,%edx 5a: 83 c1 01 add $0x1,%ecx 5d: 29 c2 sub %eax,%edx 5f: 39 f9 cmp %edi,%ecx 61: 48 63 c2 movslq %edx,%rax 64: 41 8d 50 01 lea 0x1(%r8),%edx 68: 89 54 84 e8 mov %edx,-0x18(%rsp,%rax,4) 6c: 75 c2 jne 30 <array+0x30> 6e: 8b 44 24 ec mov -0x14(%rsp),%eax 72: 03 44 24 e8 add -0x18(%rsp),%eax 76: 03 44 24 f0 add -0x10(%rsp),%eax 7a: c3 retq 7b: b8 0d 00 00 00 mov $0xd,%eax 80: c3 retq 81: 66 66 66 66 66 66 2e data32 data32 data32 data32 data32 nopw %cs:0x0(%rax,%rax,1) 88: 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 8f: 00 0000000000000090 <vars>: 90: 85 ff test %edi,%edi 92: 7e 52 jle e6 <vars+0x56> 94: 31 c9 xor %ecx,%ecx 96: 41 b8 07 00 00 00 mov $0x7,%r8d 9c: 41 b9 05 00 00 00 mov $0x5,%r9d a2: 41 bb 01 00 00 00 mov $0x1,%r11d a8: 41 ba 56 55 55 55 mov $0x55555556,%r10d ae: 89 c8 mov %ecx,%eax b0: 89 ce mov %ecx,%esi b2: 41 f7 ea imul %r10d b5: c1 fe 1f sar $0x1f,%esi b8: 89 c8 mov %ecx,%eax ba: 29 f2 sub %esi,%edx bc: 8d 14 52 lea (%rdx,%rdx,2),%edx bf: 29 d0 sub %edx,%eax c1: 83 f8 01 cmp $0x1,%eax c4: 74 09 je cf <vars+0x3f> c6: 83 f8 02 cmp $0x2,%eax c9: 74 08 je d3 <vars+0x43> cb: 41 83 c3 01 add $0x1,%r11d cf: 41 83 c1 01 add $0x1,%r9d d3: 83 c1 01 add $0x1,%ecx d6: 41 83 c0 01 add $0x1,%r8d da: 39 f9 cmp %edi,%ecx dc: 75 d0 jne ae <vars+0x1e> de: 45 01 d9 add %r11d,%r9d e1: 43 8d 04 01 lea (%r9,%r8,1),%eax e5: c3 retq e6: b8 0d 00 00 00 mov $0xd,%eax eb: c3 retq Arrays mean memory - don't use them unless you actually want the compiler to use memory.