#BLOAT metastatement

Purpose | Artificially inflate the disk image size of a compiled program.
Syntax | #BLOAT size_expression
Remarks | #BLOAT allows the creation of artificially bloated program files on disk, in order to match or exceed that generated by competing "BloatWare" compilers. #BLOAT does not affect the memory image size (running size) of a compiled program.

size_expression

The size_expression parameter is a simple Long-integer expression that specifies the total desired size of the compiled programs disk image, but is ignored if it is smaller than the actual program size. #BLOAT uses sections of the actual compiled code to fill and obfuscate the portion added to the file.

While #BLOAT adds no true merit to the technical efficiency of the compiled code, there are a number of reasons for its use, including:

1. | To allow "BloatWare" programmers to feel more comfortable when using PowerBASIC.

2. | To impress project leaders/managers with the volume of executable code created.

3. | To allay the fears of uninformed customers who may mistakenly infer that "such tiny programs couldn't possibly do everything that..."

4. | To make certain versions of a program more readily identifiable simply by examining the size of the file on disk.

5. | To improve convolution of the contents of the executable disk image, because the bloat region appears to contain executable code.

See also | #COMPILE EXE, #OPTIMIZE
Example | #BLOAT 1024 * 1024 * 4 ' Create a 4 MB EXE file