C++ – Virtual functions and performance – C++

coptimizationperformancevirtual-functions

In my class design, I use abstract classes and virtual functions extensively. I had a feeling that virtual functions affects the performance. Is this true? But I think this performance difference is not noticeable and looks like I am doing premature optimization. Right?

Best Answer

Your question made me curious, so I went ahead and ran some timings on the 3GHz in-order PowerPC CPU we work with. The test I ran was to make a simple 4d vector class with get/set functions

class TestVec 
{
    float x,y,z,w; 
public:
    float GetX() { return x; }
    float SetX(float to) { return x=to; }  // and so on for the other three 
}

Then I set up three arrays each containing 1024 of these vectors (small enough to fit in L1) and ran a loop that added them to one another (A.x = B.x + C.x) 1000 times. I ran this with the functions defined as inline, virtual, and regular function calls. Here are the results:

inline: 8ms (0.65ns per call)
direct: 68ms (5.53ns per call)
virtual: 160ms (13ns per call)

So, in this case (where everything fits in cache) the virtual function calls were about 20x slower than the inline calls. But what does this really mean? Each trip through the loop caused exactly 3 * 4 * 1024 = 12,288 function calls (1024 vectors times four components times three calls per add), so these times represent 1000 * 12,288 = 12,288,000 function calls. The virtual loop took 92ms longer than the direct loop, so the additional overhead per call was 7 nanoseconds per function.

From this I conclude: yes, virtual functions are much slower than direct functions, and no, unless you're planning on calling them ten million times per second, it doesn't matter.

Related Solutions

C# – Virtual member call in a constructor

When an object written in C# is constructed, what happens is that the initializers run in order from the most derived class to the base class, and then constructors run in order from the base class to the most derived class (see Eric Lippert's blog for details as to why this is).

Also in .NET objects do not change type as they are constructed, but start out as the most derived type, with the method table being for the most derived type. This means that virtual method calls always run on the most derived type.

When you combine these two facts you are left with the problem that if you make a virtual method call in a constructor, and it is not the most derived type in its inheritance hierarchy, that it will be called on a class whose constructor has not been run, and therefore may not be in a suitable state to have that method called.

This problem is, of course, mitigated if you mark your class as sealed to ensure that it is the most derived type in the inheritance hierarchy - in which case it is perfectly safe to call the virtual method.

Java – Fastest way to determine if an integer’s square root is an integer

I figured out a method that works ~35% faster than your 6bits+Carmack+sqrt code, at least with my CPU (x86) and programming language (C/C++). Your results may vary, especially because I don't know how the Java factor will play out.

My approach is threefold:

First, filter out obvious answers. This includes negative numbers and looking at the last 4 bits. (I found looking at the last six didn't help.) I also answer yes for 0. (In reading the code below, note that my input is int64 x.)
```
if( x < 0 || (x&2) || ((x & 7) == 5) || ((x & 11) == 8) )
    return false;
if( x == 0 )
    return true;
```
Next, check if it's a square modulo 255 = 3 * 5 * 17. Because that's a product of three distinct primes, only about 1/8 of the residues mod 255 are squares. However, in my experience, calling the modulo operator (%) costs more than the benefit one gets, so I use bit tricks involving 255 = 2^8-1 to compute the residue. (For better or worse, I am not using the trick of reading individual bytes out of a word, only bitwise-and and shifts.)
```
int64 y = x;
y = (y & 4294967295LL) + (y >> 32); 
y = (y & 65535) + (y >> 16);
y = (y & 255) + ((y >> 8) & 255) + (y >> 16);
// At this point, y is between 0 and 511.  More code can reduce it farther.
```
To actually check if the residue is a square, I look up the answer in a precomputed table.
```
if( bad255[y] )
    return false;
// However, I just use a table of size 512
```
Finally, try to compute the square root using a method similar to Hensel's lemma. (I don't think it's applicable directly, but it works with some modifications.) Before doing that, I divide out all powers of 2 with a binary search:
```
if((x & 4294967295LL) == 0)
    x >>= 32;
if((x & 65535) == 0)
    x >>= 16;
if((x & 255) == 0)
    x >>= 8;
if((x & 15) == 0)
    x >>= 4;
if((x & 3) == 0)
    x >>= 2;
```
At this point, for our number to be a square, it must be 1 mod 8.
```
if((x & 7) != 1)
    return false;
```
The basic structure of Hensel's lemma is the following. (Note: untested code; if it doesn't work, try t=2 or 8.)
```
int64 t = 4, r = 1;
t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
// Repeat until t is 2^33 or so.  Use a loop if you want.
```
The idea is that at each iteration, you add one bit onto r, the "current" square root of x; each square root is accurate modulo a larger and larger power of 2, namely t/2. At the end, r and t/2-r will be square roots of x modulo t/2. (Note that if r is a square root of x, then so is -r. This is true even modulo numbers, but beware, modulo some numbers, things can have even more than 2 square roots; notably, this includes powers of 2.) Because our actual square root is less than 2^32, at that point we can actually just check if r or t/2-r are real square roots. In my actual code, I use the following modified loop:
```
int64 r, t, z;
r = start[(x >> 3) & 1023];
do {
    z = x - r * r;
    if( z == 0 )
        return true;
    if( z < 0 )
        return false;
    t = z & (-z);
    r += (z & t) >> 1;
    if( r > (t >> 1) )
        r = t - r;
} while( t <= (1LL << 33) );
```
The speedup here is obtained in three ways: precomputed start value (equivalent to ~10 iterations of the loop), earlier exit of the loop, and skipping some t values. For the last part, I look at z = r - x * x, and set t to be the largest power of 2 dividing z with a bit trick. This allows me to skip t values that wouldn't have affected the value of r anyway. The precomputed start value in my case picks out the "smallest positive" square root modulo 8192.

Even if this code doesn't work faster for you, I hope you enjoy some of the ideas it contains. Complete, tested code follows, including the precomputed tables.

typedef signed long long int int64;

int start[1024] =
{1,3,1769,5,1937,1741,7,1451,479,157,9,91,945,659,1817,11,
1983,707,1321,1211,1071,13,1479,405,415,1501,1609,741,15,339,1703,203,
129,1411,873,1669,17,1715,1145,1835,351,1251,887,1573,975,19,1127,395,
1855,1981,425,453,1105,653,327,21,287,93,713,1691,1935,301,551,587,
257,1277,23,763,1903,1075,1799,1877,223,1437,1783,859,1201,621,25,779,
1727,573,471,1979,815,1293,825,363,159,1315,183,27,241,941,601,971,
385,131,919,901,273,435,647,1493,95,29,1417,805,719,1261,1177,1163,
1599,835,1367,315,1361,1933,1977,747,31,1373,1079,1637,1679,1581,1753,1355,
513,1539,1815,1531,1647,205,505,1109,33,1379,521,1627,1457,1901,1767,1547,
1471,1853,1833,1349,559,1523,967,1131,97,35,1975,795,497,1875,1191,1739,
641,1149,1385,133,529,845,1657,725,161,1309,375,37,463,1555,615,1931,
1343,445,937,1083,1617,883,185,1515,225,1443,1225,869,1423,1235,39,1973,
769,259,489,1797,1391,1485,1287,341,289,99,1271,1701,1713,915,537,1781,
1215,963,41,581,303,243,1337,1899,353,1245,329,1563,753,595,1113,1589,
897,1667,407,635,785,1971,135,43,417,1507,1929,731,207,275,1689,1397,
1087,1725,855,1851,1873,397,1607,1813,481,163,567,101,1167,45,1831,1205,
1025,1021,1303,1029,1135,1331,1017,427,545,1181,1033,933,1969,365,1255,1013,
959,317,1751,187,47,1037,455,1429,609,1571,1463,1765,1009,685,679,821,
1153,387,1897,1403,1041,691,1927,811,673,227,137,1499,49,1005,103,629,
831,1091,1449,1477,1967,1677,697,1045,737,1117,1737,667,911,1325,473,437,
1281,1795,1001,261,879,51,775,1195,801,1635,759,165,1871,1645,1049,245,
703,1597,553,955,209,1779,1849,661,865,291,841,997,1265,1965,1625,53,
1409,893,105,1925,1297,589,377,1579,929,1053,1655,1829,305,1811,1895,139,
575,189,343,709,1711,1139,1095,277,993,1699,55,1435,655,1491,1319,331,
1537,515,791,507,623,1229,1529,1963,1057,355,1545,603,1615,1171,743,523,
447,1219,1239,1723,465,499,57,107,1121,989,951,229,1521,851,167,715,
1665,1923,1687,1157,1553,1869,1415,1749,1185,1763,649,1061,561,531,409,907,
319,1469,1961,59,1455,141,1209,491,1249,419,1847,1893,399,211,985,1099,
1793,765,1513,1275,367,1587,263,1365,1313,925,247,1371,1359,109,1561,1291,
191,61,1065,1605,721,781,1735,875,1377,1827,1353,539,1777,429,1959,1483,
1921,643,617,389,1809,947,889,981,1441,483,1143,293,817,749,1383,1675,
63,1347,169,827,1199,1421,583,1259,1505,861,457,1125,143,1069,807,1867,
2047,2045,279,2043,111,307,2041,597,1569,1891,2039,1957,1103,1389,231,2037,
65,1341,727,837,977,2035,569,1643,1633,547,439,1307,2033,1709,345,1845,
1919,637,1175,379,2031,333,903,213,1697,797,1161,475,1073,2029,921,1653,
193,67,1623,1595,943,1395,1721,2027,1761,1955,1335,357,113,1747,1497,1461,
1791,771,2025,1285,145,973,249,171,1825,611,265,1189,847,1427,2023,1269,
321,1475,1577,69,1233,755,1223,1685,1889,733,1865,2021,1807,1107,1447,1077,
1663,1917,1129,1147,1775,1613,1401,555,1953,2019,631,1243,1329,787,871,885,
449,1213,681,1733,687,115,71,1301,2017,675,969,411,369,467,295,693,
1535,509,233,517,401,1843,1543,939,2015,669,1527,421,591,147,281,501,
577,195,215,699,1489,525,1081,917,1951,2013,73,1253,1551,173,857,309,
1407,899,663,1915,1519,1203,391,1323,1887,739,1673,2011,1585,493,1433,117,
705,1603,1111,965,431,1165,1863,533,1823,605,823,1179,625,813,2009,75,
1279,1789,1559,251,657,563,761,1707,1759,1949,777,347,335,1133,1511,267,
833,1085,2007,1467,1745,1805,711,149,1695,803,1719,485,1295,1453,935,459,
1151,381,1641,1413,1263,77,1913,2005,1631,541,119,1317,1841,1773,359,651,
961,323,1193,197,175,1651,441,235,1567,1885,1481,1947,881,2003,217,843,
1023,1027,745,1019,913,717,1031,1621,1503,867,1015,1115,79,1683,793,1035,
1089,1731,297,1861,2001,1011,1593,619,1439,477,585,283,1039,1363,1369,1227,
895,1661,151,645,1007,1357,121,1237,1375,1821,1911,549,1999,1043,1945,1419,
1217,957,599,571,81,371,1351,1003,1311,931,311,1381,1137,723,1575,1611,
767,253,1047,1787,1169,1997,1273,853,1247,413,1289,1883,177,403,999,1803,
1345,451,1495,1093,1839,269,199,1387,1183,1757,1207,1051,783,83,423,1995,
639,1155,1943,123,751,1459,1671,469,1119,995,393,219,1743,237,153,1909,
1473,1859,1705,1339,337,909,953,1771,1055,349,1993,613,1393,557,729,1717,
511,1533,1257,1541,1425,819,519,85,991,1693,503,1445,433,877,1305,1525,
1601,829,809,325,1583,1549,1991,1941,927,1059,1097,1819,527,1197,1881,1333,
383,125,361,891,495,179,633,299,863,285,1399,987,1487,1517,1639,1141,
1729,579,87,1989,593,1907,839,1557,799,1629,201,155,1649,1837,1063,949,
255,1283,535,773,1681,461,1785,683,735,1123,1801,677,689,1939,487,757,
1857,1987,983,443,1327,1267,313,1173,671,221,695,1509,271,1619,89,565,
127,1405,1431,1659,239,1101,1159,1067,607,1565,905,1755,1231,1299,665,373,
1985,701,1879,1221,849,627,1465,789,543,1187,1591,923,1905,979,1241,181};

bool bad255[512] =
{0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,
 0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,
 1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,
 1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,
 0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,
 1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,
 1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 0,0};

inline bool square( int64 x ) {
    // Quickfail
    if( x < 0 || (x&2) || ((x & 7) == 5) || ((x & 11) == 8) )
        return false;
    if( x == 0 )
        return true;

    // Check mod 255 = 3 * 5 * 17, for fun
    int64 y = x;
    y = (y & 4294967295LL) + (y >> 32);
    y = (y & 65535) + (y >> 16);
    y = (y & 255) + ((y >> 8) & 255) + (y >> 16);
    if( bad255[y] )
        return false;

    // Divide out powers of 4 using binary search
    if((x & 4294967295LL) == 0)
        x >>= 32;
    if((x & 65535) == 0)
        x >>= 16;
    if((x & 255) == 0)
        x >>= 8;
    if((x & 15) == 0)
        x >>= 4;
    if((x & 3) == 0)
        x >>= 2;

    if((x & 7) != 1)
        return false;

    // Compute sqrt using something like Hensel's lemma
    int64 r, t, z;
    r = start[(x >> 3) & 1023];
    do {
        z = x - r * r;
        if( z == 0 )
            return true;
        if( z < 0 )
            return false;
        t = z & (-z);
        r += (z & t) >> 1;
        if( r > (t  >> 1) )
            r = t - r;
    } while( t <= (1LL << 33) );

    return false;
}

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – Virtual member call in a constructor

Java – Fastest way to determine if an integer’s square root is an integer

Related Topic