Answer:
b. The function will execute slowly because "val", and the return value of the function will both require a lot of data copying. This is because C is call-by-value.
Explanation:
Given Function signature: struct x_struct my_function( struct x_struct val );
The function my_function takes a structure of type struct x_struct as arguments and returns a structure of the same type.
C make use of call by value. So it will involve a copy of the struct argument and the return value as part of function execution. This will slow down the speed of execution particularly if the size of the structure is large.So option b is the correct option.