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Faster meta-programs using gcc 4.5 and C++0x

One of the practical issues with C++ meta-programming is its speed. C++ programs that use heavy meta-programming can be notoriously slow to compile on contemporary compilers. Things are changing, however. Check the following comparison of gcc 4.5 against gcc 4.4.3.
The first graph is obtained from a program that creates a binary tree of template instantiations. The x-axis shows the number of instantiations when value of N goes from 8 to 17. I could not build up patience for gcc 4.4.3 beyond 16363 instantiations (N=13). On the other hand, gcc 4.5 does pretty good and its increase in compilation time is indeed linear as mentioned here. Here is the program that creates a binary tree of template instantiations.
template <int Depth, int A, typename B>
struct Binary 
{
  enum { value = 1 +
         Binary<depth-1, 0, Binary>::value +
         Binary<depth-1, 1, Binary>::value };
};

template<int a, typename B>
struct Binary<0, A, B> 
{
  enum { value = 1 };
};

int main(void) 
{
  static const int N = 10;
  const int instantiations = Binary<N,0,int>::value;
}
The second graph is obtained from a program that finds an intersection of two MPL vectors. Again gcc 4.5 shows linear increase in compilation time as opposed to gcc 4.4.3. Here is the intersection program.
template <class V1, class V2>
struct Intersection 
{
  typedef typename
     boost::mpl::copy_if<V1,
     boost::mpl::contains<V2, boost::mpl::placeholders::_1> >::type type;
};
While all that is already exciting, it fades in comparison to the performance of variadic templates in C++0x. The green line in the second graph shows negligible effect on performance with the increasing number of template parameters. Here is my intersection metaprogram using variadic templates.
struct null_type {};
template <typename... Arg> struct vector {};

template <typename V> struct front;
template <typename V> struct pop_front;

template <typename Head, typename... Tail>
struct front <vector <Head, Tail...> > 
{
  typedef Head type;
};

template <>
struct front <vector <> > 
{
  typedef null_type type;
};

template <typename Head, typename... Tail>
struct pop_front <vector <Head, Tail...> > 
{
  typedef vector<Tail...> type;
};

template <>
struct pop_front <vector <> > 
{
  typedef vector<> type;
};

template <typename Vector, typename T> struct push_back;

template <typename T, typename... Args>
struct push_back < vector<Args...>, T> 
{
  typedef vector<Args..., T> type;
};

template <typename Vector> struct size;

template <typename... Args>
struct size <vector <Args...> > 
{
  typedef size type;
  enum { value = sizeof...(Args) };
};

template <typename Vector, typename What> struct contains;

template <typename What, typename Head, typename... Tail>
struct contains < vector<Head, Tail...>, What> : 
  std::conditional < std::is_same<Head, What>::value,
                     std::true_type,
                     contains < vector<Tail...>, What> >::type
{
  typedef contains type;
};

template <typename What>
struct contains <vector<>, What> 
{
  typedef contains type;
  enum { value = 0 };
};

template <class V1, class V2>
struct Intersection;

template <class V1, class V2, unsigned int N>
struct Intersection_impl
{
  typedef typename front<V2>::type Head;
  typedef typename pop_front<V2>::type Tail;
  typedef typename Intersection<V1, Tail>::type I;

  typedef typename 
    std::conditional<contains<V1, Head>::value,
                     typename push_back<I, Head>::type,
                     I >::type type;
};

template <class V1, class V2>
struct Intersection_impl <V1, V2, 0> 
{
  typedef vector<> type;
};

template <class V1, class V2>
struct Intersection 
{
  typedef typename Intersection_impl<V1, V2, 
          size<V1>::value * size<V2>::value>::type type;
};


So long story short, seems like better days are ahead for C++ meta-programming!

Comments

Unknown said…
I did a similar test using my implementation of the 8 queens puzzle and saw that clang was way faster than gcc 4.4. It's nice to see that gcc 4.5 now has that optimization, let's hope that cl will follow... :) http://debugfailure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/but-but-its-still-compiling/
Gralfca said…
Good to know. Good exercise
Anonymous said…
Are you sure taht the Binary template in the post is correct ?
Sumant said…
I fixed the Binary template. It just needed a definition of N.
Seo Sydney said…
I haven’t done any serious looking into the code generated in release builds. I haven’t decked out the optimization options yet with clang and GCC to see what the real runtime differences are in the produced binaries.
Sebastian said…
This is great, I immediately tried it after reading your post and it gave a nice performance boost at compile time for my projects.

Installing g++ 4.5 on Ubunut (10.10) is pretty straight forward too:

sudo apt-get install g++-4.5
sudo rm -rf /usr/bin/g++
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/g++-4.5 /usr/bin/g++

It also supports the C++0x lambda features which I found to be a lot of fun to play with.
java tutorial said…
I was searching on google and directed to this blog. I found it very informative. There are some very useful examples. Great work, Keep it up.
Hi !! Thanks for Tricks - I will be sure to check out your blog more often
Well your strategy certainly seems to be working for you my friend. I should really think about mimicking or “at least” trying a few of the things you do more often.
I’ve seen progression in every post. Your newer posts are simply wonderful compared to your posts in the past. Keep up the good work.
You have presented your angles and analysis about the subject in such an interesting manner that it really caught interest. I support your point of view.
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Houses On Sale said…
Good to know. Good exercise
IT-NEWS said…
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Vision said…
You have to write a C/C++ graphics program which will take and display (Graphically) an NFA (User will input the NFA). Once user completes the input (an NFA) the program should convert that NFA to a DFA (Graphically show the DFA). You have to use the Subset Construction Algorithm for NFA to DFA conversion. Finding the Epsilon closure of each/all state of NFA should also be a component of your assignment.The Subset Construction Algorithm details has been provided in the printed format.
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Anonymous said…
your parameter list of Binary seems to be broken:

template struct Binary{...};

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