vector of objects vs vector of pointers

It doesn't affect the pointer. Around one and a half year ago I did some benchmarks on updating objects Particles vector of objects: mean is 69ms and variance should be ok. Accessing the objects takes a performance hit. To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Memory leaks; Shallow copies; Memory Leaks WebSet ptr [i] to point to data [i]. Required fields are marked *. Why is this? A Computer Science portal for geeks. * Variance Unfortunately I found it hard to create a series of benchmarks: like The above only puts lower bounds on that size for POD types. It is difficult to say anything definitive about all non-POD types as their operations (e.g. The real truth can be found by profiling the code. Do you optimise for memory access patterns? https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/span/operator_at states that operator[] is undefined behaviour on out of bounds access. Springbrooks Cirrus is a true cloud financial platform built for local government agency needs. 2011-2022, Bartlomiej Filipek std::vector adsbygoogle window.ads By looking at the data you can detect if your samples got a proper measured. Which pdf bundle should I provide? Revisiting An Old Benchmark - Vector of objects or pointers WebThe difference to the first approach is, that here your objects get destroyed when the vector gets destroyed, whereas above they may live longer than the container, if other range of data. Our particle has the size of 72bytes, so we need two cache line loads (cache line is usually 64 byte): first will load 64 bytes, then another 64 bytes. Bob Perry, Satish Vangipuram, Andi Ireland, Richard Ohnemus, Michael Dunsky. It contains well written, well thought and well explained computer science and programming articles, quizzes and practice/competitive programming/company interview Questions. How to delete objects from vector of pointers to object? Windows High Performance Timer for measurement. In our For 1000 particles we need on the average 2000 cache line reads! Thank you for your understanding. On the diagram above, you can see that all elements of the vector are next to each other in the memory block. We can perform this task in certain steps. c++ How to find the minimum number of elements from a vector that sum to a given number, Passing a 2d dynamic array to a function in C++. that might be invisible using just a stopwatch approach. Hoisting the dynamic type out of a loop (a.k.a. Having vector of objects is much slower than a vector of pointers. Please call me if you have any questions. When an object is added to the vector, it makes a copy. As you can see this time, we can see the opposite effect. That means the pointer you are saving is not a pointer to the object inside the vector. Let us know in comments. This may be performance hit because the processor may have to reload the data cache when dereferencing the pointer to the object. Now lets create a std::function<> object that we will pass to thread object as thread function i.e. The C-array (1), std::vector(2), and the std::array (3) have int's. We can use the vector of pointers to manage values that are not stored in continuous memory. What operations with temporary object can prevent its lifetime prolongation? You must also ask yourself if the Objects or the Object* are unique. Check out this lecture about linked lists by Bjarne Stroustrup: This can be used to operate over to create an array containing multiple pointers. the measurement happens: Additionally I got the test where the randomization part is skipped. Using c++11's header, what is the correct way to get an integer between 0 and n? The test code will take each element of the problem In the case of an array of pointers to objects, you must free the objects manually if that's what you want. A view (std::span) and a std::string_view are non-owning views and can deal with strings. Thank you! (On the other hand, calling delete on a pointer value runs the destructor for the pointed-to object, and frees the memory.). It Nonius are easy to use and can pick strange artefacts in the results The update() method is simple, has only several arithmetic operations and a single branch. This way, an object will be copied only when necessary, and shared otherwise. With this post I wanted to confirm that having a good benchmarking Overloading, variadic functions and bool type, Unable to discriminate template specialization with enable_if and is_base_of. we can not copy them, only move them. library is probably better that your own simple solution. Deletion of the element is not as simple as pop_back in the case of pointers. Dynamic dispatch (virtual method calls) work only on pointers and references (and you can't store references in a std::vector). * Min (us) A std::span, sometimes also called a view, is never an owner. To mimic real life case we can I've recently released a new book on Modern C++: runs generate method - so that we have some random numbers assigned. A pointer to a vector is very rarely useful - a vector is cheap to construct and destruct. For elements in the vector , there's no correct ans Further, thanks to the functions std::erase and std::erase_if, the deletion of the elements of a container works like a charm. You just need to I try to write complete and accurate articles, but the web-site will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. With this more advanced setup we can run benchmarks several times over Storing pointers to allocated (not scoped) objects is quite convenient. Cirrus advanced automation frees up personnel to manage strategic initiatives and provides the ability to work from anywhere, on any device, with the highest level of security available. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2023 www.appsloveworld.com. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. This may be a performance savings depending on the object size. std::vector and other containers will just remove the pointer, they won't free the memory the pointer points to. How can I point to a member of a std::set in such a way that I can tell if the element has been removed? allocated in a continuous memory block vs allocated individually as Some of the code is repeated, so we could even simplify this a bit more. Nonius performs some statistic analysis on the gathered data. There are 2 deferences before you get to the object. Thank you for one more great post! A little bit more costly in performance than a raw pointer. Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed herein are in no way representative of those of my employers. * Iterations The Five (Seven) Winners of my C++20 book are: Resolving C/C++ Concurrency Bugs More Efficiently with Time Travel Debugging, Cooperative Interruption of a Thread in C++20, Barriers and Atomic Smart Pointers in C++20, Performance Comparison of Condition Variables and Atomics in C++20, Looking for Proofreaders for my New Book: C++20, Calendar and Time-Zones in C++20: Calendar Dates, Calendar and Time-Zones in C++20: Time-Zones, Calendar and Time-Zones in C++20: Handling Calendar Dates, Calendar and Time-Zones in C++20: Time of Day, C++20: Extend std::format for User-Defined Types, More Convenience Functions for Containers with C++20, constexpr std::vector and std::string in C++20, Five Vouchers to win for the book "Modern C++ for Absolute Beginners", volatile and Other Small Improvements in C++20, Compiler Explorer, PVS-Studio, and Terrible Simple Bugs, The C++ Standard Library: The Third Edition includes C++20, Solving the Static Initialization Order Fiasco with C++20, Two new Keywords in C++20: consteval and constinit, C++20: Optimized Comparison with the Spaceship Operator, C++20: More Details to the Spaceship Operator, C++20: Module Interface Unit and Module Implementation Unit, Face-to-Face Seminars and Online Seminars are different, C++20: Thread Synchronization with Coroutines, C++20: An Infinite Data Stream with Coroutines, Looking for Proofreaders for my new Book: C++ Core Guidelines, C++20: Pythons range Function, the Second, C++20: Functional Patterns with the Ranges Library. write a benchmark that is repeatable. How do I initialize a stl vector of objects who themselves have non-trivial constructors? This will "slice" d, and the vector will only contain the 'Base' parts of the object. WebIn that case, when you push_back(something), a copy is made of the object. Class members that are objects - Pointers or not? samples and 1 iteration). An unsafe program will consume more of your time fixing issues than a safe and robust version. To make polymorphism work You have to use some kind of pointers. You can also have a look and join discussions in those places: I've prepared a valuable bonus if you're interested in Modern C++! This can affect the performance and be totally different than a regular use case when objects are allocated in random order at a random time and then added to a container. acknowledge that you have read and understood our, Data Structure & Algorithm Classes (Live), Data Structure & Algorithm-Self Paced(C++/JAVA), Android App Development with Kotlin(Live), Full Stack Development with React & Node JS(Live), GATE CS Original Papers and Official Keys, ISRO CS Original Papers and Official Keys, ISRO CS Syllabus for Scientist/Engineer Exam, Initialize a vector in C++ (7 different ways), Map in C++ Standard Template Library (STL), Set in C++ Standard Template Library (STL), Left Shift and Right Shift Operators in C/C++, Priority Queue in C++ Standard Template Library (STL), Input/Output Operators Overloading in C++. memory. Make your cross! This may have an initialization performance hit. When you modify the span, you modify the referenced objects.. Then we can define fixture classes for the final benchmarks: and vector of pointers, randomized or not: quite simple right? Can it contain duplicates? However its also good to remember that when the object inside a container is heavy it might be better to leave them in the same place, but use some kind of indexing when you sort or perform other algorithms that move elements around. slightly different data: For all our tests the variance is severely affected, its clearly I try to write complete and accurate articles, but the web-site will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. Are function pointers function objects in C++? Your success with Springbrook software is my first priority., 1000 SW Broadway, Suite 1900, Portland, OR 97205 United States, Cloud financial platform for local government, Payment Solutions: Integrated with Utility Billing, Payment Solutions agency savings calculator, Springbrook Survey Shows Many Government Employees Still Teleworking, Springbrook Software Announces Strongest Third Quarter in Companys 35-year History Powered by New Cirrus Cloud Platform, Springbrook Debuts New Mobile App for Field Work Orders, Springbrook Software Releases New Government Budgeting Tool, GovTech: Springbrook Software Buys Property Tax Firm Publiq for ERP, Less training for new hires through an intuitive design, Ease of adoption for existing Springbrook users, Streamlined navigationwithjust a few simple clicks. It's not unusual to put a pointer into a standard library container. How to use find algorithm with a vector of pointers to objects in c++? 10k. As you may expect, the from a std::vector created mySpan1 (1) and the from a pointer and a size created mySpan (2) are equal (3). Storing copies of objects themselves in a std::vector is inefficient and probably requires a copy assignment operator. dimensional data range. Particles vector of pointers but not randomized: mean is 90ms and Inside the block, there is a place to store the reference counter, the weak counter and also the deleter object. Additionally Hardware Prefetcher cannot figure out the pattern -- it is random -- so there will be a lot of cache misses and stalls. You will get a vector of ObjectBaseClass. The main difference between a std::span and a std::string_view is that a std::span can modify its objects. Using std::unique_ptr with containers in c++0x is similar to the ptr_container library in boost. Objects that cannot be copied/moved do require a pointer approach; it is not a matter of efficiency. Well, it depends on what you are trying to do with your vector. runs and iterations all this is computed by Nonius. * Problem Space I think it would be interesting the discussion and I would like , Jake, GS, Lawton Shoemake, Animus24, Jozo Leko, John Breland. Since you are explicitly stating you want to improve your C++, I am going to recommend you start using Boost. You have not even explained how you intend to use your container. Make your choice! These are all my posts to then ranges library: category ranges library. What std::string? So, why it is so important to care about iterating over continuous block of memory? Vector of 20,000 small objects vs vector of 20,000 object pointers to 20,000 heap objects. The main reason for having a std::span is that a plain array will be decay to a pointer if passed to a function; therefore, the size is lost. You can create a std::span from a pointer and a size. Why do we need Guidelines for Modern C++? All right - if I go back to my original point, say I have an array of a hundred. Press J to jump to the feed. The vector wouldn't have the right values for the objects. Most of the time its better to have objects in a single memory block. C++ Core Guidelines: Better Specific or Generic? To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. 1. << Notes on C++ SFINAE, Modern C++ and C++20 Concepts, Revisiting An Old Benchmark - Vector of objects or pointers. No need to call List[id]->~Ball() also no need to set pointer to NULL as you are going to erase the element anyway. Also, you probably don't need a pointer to a vector in the first place, but I won't judge you since I don't know your situation. Additionally, the hardware Prefetcher cannot figure out the pattern - it is random - so there will be a lot of cache misses and stalls. By using our site, you Complex answer : it depends. if your vector is shared or has a lifecycle different from the class which embeds it, it might be better to keep it as WebVector of Objects A vector of Objects has first, initial performance hit. If your vector can fit inside a processor's data cache, this will be very efficient. C++ : Is it bad practice to use a static container in a class to contain pointers to all its objects for ease of access? All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Persistent Mapped Buffers, Benchmark Results. A couple of problems crop up when an object contains a pointer to dynamic storage. Using a reference_wrapper you would declare it like this: Notice that you do not have to dereference the iterator first as in the above approaches. Yes, you created a memory leak by that. C++: Vector of objects vs. vector of pointers to new objects? As a number of comments have pointed out, vector.erase only removes the elements from the vector. * Iterations/sec This time, however, we have a little more overhead compared to the case with unique_ptr. For a Plain Old Data (POD) type, a vector of that type is always more efficient than a vector of pointers to that type at least until sizeof(POD) > sizeof(POD*). If any of the destructed thread object is joinable and not joined then std::terminate () We and our partners share information on your use of this website to help improve your experience. If you create a shared pointer through make_shared, then the control block will be placed next to the memory block for the object. Yes, it is possible - benchmark it. Download a free copy of C++20/C++17 Ref Cards! Designed by Colorlib. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQs6IC-vgmo, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDIkqP4JbkE, Performance of container of objects vs performance of container of pointers. I'm happy to give online seminars or face-to-face seminars worldwide. Larger objects will take more time to copy, as well as complex or compound objects. and use chronometer parameter that might be passed into the Benchmark span1 references the std::vector vec(1). method: Only the code marked as //computation (that internal lambda) will be Does it need to stay sorted? There are many convenience functions to refer to the elements of the span. Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed herein are in no way representative of those of my employers. With Nonius I have to write 10 benchmarks separately. Create a variable and insert a value in it. Deleting all elements in a vector manually is an anti-pattern and violates the RAII idiom in C++. So if you have to store pointers to objects in a Is there any advantage to putting headers in an "include" subdir of the project? My question is simple: why did using a vector of pointers work, and when would you create a vector of objects versus a vector of pointers to those objects? If you really need to store resources that have to be allocated by new, then you should use boost::shared_ptr. The code will suffer from a memory leak if the programmer does not free up the memory before exiting. Your choices will be applied to this site only. To mitigate this issue, the benchmark code adds a randomisation step: ShuffleVector(). From the article: For 1000 particles we need on the average 2000 cache line reads! Why it is valid to intertwine switch/for/if statements in C/C++? Is passing a reference through function safe? // Code inside this loop is measured repeatedly, << Talk summary: The Last Thing D Needs by Scott Meyers, Flexible particle system - Emitter and Generators >>, Extra note on subsequent memory allocations, https://github.com/fenbf/benchmarkLibsTest, Revisiting An Old Benchmark - Vector of objects or pointers. An more generic & elegant solution:This solution makes use of for_each & templates as @Billy pointed out in comments: where, myclassVector is your vector containing pointers to myclass class objects. It will crash our application, because on replacing a thread object inside the vector, destructor of existing thread object will be called and we havent joined that object yet.So, it call terminate in its destructor. Why can't `auto&` bind to a volatile rvalue expression? This time each element is a pointer to a memory block allocated in a possibly different place in RAM. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. The difference is in object lifetime and useability; the speed is insignificant. Such benchmark code will be executed twice: once during the For this blog post, lets assume that Object is just a regular class, without any virtual methods. A std::span stands for an object that can refer to a contiguous sequence of objects. Before randomisation, we could get the following pointers addresses: The second table shows large distances between neighbour objects. If we will try to change the value of any element in vector of thread directly i.e. As you can see we can even use it for algorithms that uses two Parameters (none) Return value Pointer to the underlying element storage. Correctly reading a utf-16 text file into a string without external libraries? How to use boost lambda to populate a vector of pointers with new objects, C++ vector of objects vs. vector of pointers to objects. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. In In Re Man. C++ has several container types defined for you in the standard library: Yes, I've read it, but as far as I understand, the only data structures that are appropriate for this is. We can also ask another question: are pointers in a container always a bad thing? For 1000 particles we need 1000*72bytes = 72000 bytes, that means 72000/64 = 1125 cache line loads. With Celero we My understanding of the dangers of vectors is opposite to this, if you have a vector of pointers, vector as you resize (reduce in size) the vector the Binary search with returned index in STL? Will you spend more time looping through it than adding elements to it? For example, if the difference between the worst performing data structure and the best is 10 nanoseconds, that means that you will need to perform at least 1E+6 times in order for the savings to be significant. * Standard Deviation For each container, std::span can deduce its size (4). In one of our experiments, the pointer code for 80k of particles was more 266% slower than the continuous case. I've recently released a new book on Modern C++: Intel i7 4720HQ, 12GB Ram, 512 SSD, Windows 10. Check out the Boost documentation. This email address is being protected from spambots. In the picture, you can see that the closer to the CPU a variable, the faster the memory access is. This works perfectly for particles test WebYou use a vector of pointers when you need a heterogeneous container of polymorphic objects, or your objects need to persist against operations performed on the vector, for The same problem occurs to store a collection of polymorphic objects in a vector: we have to store pointers instead of values: I've prepared a valuable bonus if you're interested in Modern C++! The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. If you want that, store smart pointers instead, ie std::unique_ptr or std::shared_ptr. However, the items will automatically be deleted when the vector is destructed. In the generated CSV there are more data than you could see in the Heres the code for a vector of unique_ptr, the code is almost the same for a vector of shared_ptr. WebYou should use a vector of objects whenever possible; but in your case it isn't possible. * Mean (us) This can simulate, for example, references in C#. Ask your rep for details. wises thing but Nonius caught easily that the data is highly disturbed. To support reference counting the shared pointer needs to have a separate control block. To compile the above example in linux use. This can help you with your problem in three different ways: Using a shared_ptr could declare your vector like this: This would give you polymorphism and would be used just like it was a normal vector of pointers, but the shared_ptr would do the memory-management for you, destroying the object when the last shared_ptr referencing it is destroyed. Example 6-4. For the rest it is a balance between "simple and maintainable" vs. "the least CPU cycles ever". First, let's create a synthetic "large" object that has well defined ordering properties by some numeric ID: struct SomeLargeData { SomeLargeData ( int id_) : id (id_) {} int id; int arr [ 100 ]; }; * Samples Are there any valid use cases to use new and delete, raw pointers or c-style arrays with modern C++? Consequently, std::span also holds int's. And also heres the code that benchmarks std::sort: When you allocate hundreds of (smart) pointers one after another, they might end up in memory blocks that are next to each other. Thanks to CPU cache prefetchers CPUs can predict the memory access patterns and load memory much faster than when its spread in random chunks. vArray is nullptr (represented as X), while vCapacity and vSize are 0. Insertion using push_back( ): Inserting an element is like assigning vector elements with certain values. WebVector of objects vs vector of objects pointers I remember during an assignment for a class I took during fall semester that we had to use vectors of pointers instead of just the These seminars are only meant to give you a first orientation. Currently are 139guests and no members online. Deleting the object will not get rid of the pointers, in neither of the arrays. Thanks for the write-up. There are probably some smart pointers or references in boost or other libraries that can be used and make the code much safer than the second proposed solution. 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vector of objects vs vector of pointers