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8051 C compiler and a while-loop

I am currently maintaining and documenting some older code made with Keil version 9.53.

 I don't have access to that version, so I compiled the code with Keil version 9.60, and to my surprise, the binary was 8 bytes bigger.

I kind of expected the new binary would be an exact copy of the old binary.

I needed to understand why there was this discrepancy, so I looked into the code by hand dis-assembling where I could see the differences. (It is a small program!)

Here is what I found:

I am using a simple while loop in two places:

  while (3 > TimerCnt2);

TimerCnt2 is an unsigned char and incremented in a Timer 2 ISR.

In Keil version 9.53, this loop is translated into:

loop1:

  mov a, TimerCnt2

  clr c

  subb a, #3

  jc loop1

In Keil version 9.60, the same loop is translated into:

loop1:

  clr c

  mov a, TimerCnt2

  subb a, #3

  mov a, #80h

  subb a, #80h

  jc loop1

Two instructions more here than with version 9.53, and 4 bytes more per loop!

Both versions of course works as intended, and now comes my question:

Why the two extra instructions? It doesn't make the code run faster or reduce the space.

Anybody?

Thanks,

Claus