c++ class memory consumption

Sorry the command to disable exceptions is -fno-exceptions with an s. All the options in GCC that can be enabled with an -fxxx can also be disabled with an -fno-xxx. AFAIK exceptions are enabled by default when compiling C++ code and disabled when compiling C.

Yes 8k is a lot. There doesn't seem to be a way to use a lighter standard library with C++. I think the only way to try and understand why GCC suddenly thinks it needs to link so many library functions would be to have a look at the generated assembly code. Static methods should behave the same way than global C functions.