Even though the total size of code is usually small compared to assets, there are still some concerns about a number of systems. Most notably among these are stdio, iostream and several STL components like vectors and strings. I've seen people voice concerns about these items, but I don't think I've ever seen any measurements of them. So here are some.
The sizes in Table [[ref:tbl-footprint]] are for a bare source file with just the VBlank initialization and swiWaitForVBlank() plus whatever's necessary to use a particular component. For the IO parts this means a call to consoleDemoInit(); for vectors and strings, it means defining a variable.
[br]
Even an empty project is already 15k in size. Almost all of this is FIFO code, which is required for the ARM9 and ARM7 to communicate. Adding consoleDemoInit() and a printf() call adds roughly 71k. Printf has a lot of bagage: you have to have basic IO hooks, character type functions, allocations, decimal and floating point routines and more.
Because printf() uses the usually unnecessary floating point routines for float conversions, it is often suggested to use the integer-only variant iprintf(). In that case, it comes down to 55k. The difference is mostly due to two functions: _vfprintf_r() and _dtoa_r(), for 5.8k and 3.6k, respectively. The rest is made up of dozens of smaller functions. While the difference is relatively large, considering the footprint of the other components, the extra 16k is probably not that big of a deal. For the record, there is no difference in speed between the two. Well, almost: if the format string doesn't contain formatting parts, printf() is actually considerably faster. Another point of note is that the 55k for iprintf() is actually already added just by using consoleDemoInit().
And now the big one. People have said that C++ iostream was heavy, and indeed it is. 266k! That's a quite a lot, especially since the benefits of using iostream over stdio is rather slim if not actually negative[fnote]Yes, I said negative. Even though it has the benefit of being typesafe and extensible, the value of these advantages are somewhat exaggerated, especially since it has several drawback as well (see FQA:ch 15 for details). For one thing, try finding the iostream equivalent of "%08X", or formatted anything for that matter. For early grit code I was actually using iostream until I got to actually writing the export code. I couldn't move back to stdio fast enough.[/fnote]. Don't use iostream in NDS projects. Don't even #include <iostream>, as that seems enough to link the whole thing in.
Related to iosteam is fstream. This also is about a quarter MB. I haven't checked too carefully, but I think the brunt of these parts are shared, so it won't combine to half a Meg if you use both. Something similar is true for the stdio file routines.
Why are the C++ streams so large? Well, lots of reasons, apparently. One of which is actually its potential for extensibility. Because it doesn't work via formatting flags, none of those can be excluded like in iprintf()'s case. Then there's exceptions, which adds a good deal of code as well. There also seems to be tons of stuff for character traits, numerical traits, money traits (wtf?!?) and iosbase stuff. These items seem small, say 4 to 40 bytes, but when there are over a thousand it adds up. Then there's all the stuff from STL strings and allocators, type info, more exception stuff, error messages for the exceptions, date/time routines, locale settings and more. I tell you, looking at the mapfile for this is enough to give me a headache. And worst of all, you'll probably use next to none of it, but it's all linked in anyway.
Finally, some STL. This is also said to be somewhat big-boned, and yes it isn't light. Doing anything non-trivial with either a vector or string seems to add about 60k. Fortunately, though, this is mostly the same 60k, so there are not bad effects from using both. Unfortunately, I can't really tell where it's all going. About 10k is spent on several d_*() routines like d_print(), which is I assume debug code. Another 10k is exceptions, type info and error messages and 10 more for. But after that it gets a little murky. In any case, even though adding STL strings and vectors includes more that necessary, 60k is a fair price for what these components give you.
[br]
Conclusions
The smallest size for an NDS binary is about 14k. While printf() is larger than iprintf(), it's probably not enough to worry about, so just use printf() until it becomes a pressing matter (and even then you could probably shrink down another part more easily anyway). There is no speed difference between the two. The C++ iostream and fstream components are not worth it. Their added value over printf and FILE routines are small when it comes to basic IO functionality. STL containers do cost a bit, but are probably worth the effort. If you need more than simple text handling or dynamic arrays and lists, I'd say go for it. But that's just my opinion.
Please note, the tests I did for this were fairly roughly. Your mileage may vary.
[br]
Lastly. The nm tool (or arm-eabi-nm for DKA) is my new best friend for executable analysis. Unlike the linker's mapfile, nm can sort addresses and show symbol sizes, and doesn't include tons of crap used for glue.