Best way to calc next ^2 value...

Added test_empty() and test_ceil() for more information.

Results (Athlon XP 1800+, ~1.533GHz):

test_int: 131ms
test_shl: 176ms
test_log: 1106ms
test_float: 150ms
test_var: 163ms
test_constmath: 160ms
test_empty: 123ms
test_ceil: 1478ms

I agree with you that the internal math functions are not replaced by const values.

However after subtracting the loop and call overhead shown by test_empty(), I believe that there is significant variation in the other functions compared to test_int.

test_int: 8ms
test_shl: 53ms
test_log: 983ms
test_float: 27ms
test_var: 40ms
test_constmath: 37ms
test_empty: 0ms (this is the baseline)
test_ceil: 1355ms

From this I'd say that expressions like '1 Shl 13' are not reduced to a constant.

I'll think about a more conclusive test.

Const iterations = 10000000

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_int()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_int:   " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_shl()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_shl:   " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_log()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_log:   " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_float()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_float: " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_var()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_var:   " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_constmath()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_constmath:   " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_empty()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_empty: " + e + "ms"

s = MilliSecs() : For i = 1 To iterations
	test_ceil()
Next : e = MilliSecs() - s
Print "test_ceil:  " + e + "ms"

WaitKey() : End

Function test_int#()
	Return 7
End Function

Function test_shl#()
	Return 1 Shl 13
End Function

Function test_log#()
	Return Log(30)
End Function

Function test_float#()
	Return 7.6
End Function

Function test_var#()
	a = 7 : b = 8
	Return a * b
End Function

Function test_constmath#()
	Return iterations / 678
End Function

Function test_empty#()
End Function

Function test_ceil#()
	Return Ceil(3)
End Function