State of “memset” functionality in C++ with modern compilers

Question

Context:

A while ago, I stumbled upon this 2001 DDJ article by Alexandrescu: http://www.ddj.com/cpp/184403799

It\'s about comparing various ways to initialize

Answer 1

I would always choose an initialization method that is part of the runtime or OS (memset) I am using (worse case pick one that is part of a library that I am using).

Why: If you are implementing your own initialization, you might end up with a marginally better solution now, but it is likely that in a couple of years the runtime has improved. And you don't want to do the same work that the guys maintaining the runtime do.

All this stands if the improvement in runtime is marginal. If you have a difference of an order of magnitude between memset and your own initialization, then it makes sense to have your code running, but I really doubt this case.