Boost C++ Libraries

...one of the most highly regarded and expertly designed C++ library projects in the world. Herb Sutter and Andrei Alexandrescu, C++ Coding Standards

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Performance

Back insertion and destruction
Reversing
Sorting
Write access
Conclusions

Boost.Intrusive containers offer speed improvements compared to non-intrusive containers primarily because:

This section will show performance tests comparing some operations on boost::intrusive::list and std::list:

Given an object of type T, boost::intrusive::list<T> can replace std::list<T> to avoid memory allocation overhead, or it can replace std::list<T*> when the user wants containers with polymorphic values or wants to share values between several containers. Because of this versatility, the performance tests will be executed for 6 different list types:

Both test_class and itest_class are templatized classes that can be configured with a boolean to increase the size of the object. This way, the tests can be executed with small and big objects. Here is the first part of the testing code, which shows the definitions of test_class and itest_class classes, and some other utilities:

//Iteration and element count defines
const int NumIter = 4;
const int NumElements   = 50000;

using namespace boost::intrusive;

template<bool BigSize>  struct filler        {  int dummy[10];   };
template <>             struct filler<false> {};

template<bool BigSize> //The object for non-intrusive containers
struct test_class :  private filler<BigSize>
{
   int i_;
   test_class()               {}
   test_class(int i) :  i_(i) {}
   friend bool operator <(const test_class &l, const test_class &r)  {  return l.i_ < r.i_;  }
   friend bool operator >(const test_class &l, const test_class &r)  {  return l.i_ > r.i_;  }
};

template <bool BigSize, link_mode_type LinkMode>
struct itest_class   //The object for intrusive containers
   :  public list_base_hook<link_mode<LinkMode> >,  public test_class<BigSize>
{
   itest_class()                                {}
   itest_class(int i) : test_class<BigSize>(i)  {}
};

template<class FuncObj> //Adapts functors taking values to functors taking pointers
struct func_ptr_adaptor  :  public FuncObj
{
   typedef typename FuncObj::first_argument_type*  first_argument_type;
   typedef typename FuncObj::second_argument_type* second_argument_type;
   typedef typename FuncObj::result_type           result_type;
   result_type operator()(first_argument_type a,  second_argument_type b) const
      {  return FuncObj::operator()(*a, *b); }
};

As we can see, test_class is a very simple class holding an int. itest_class is just a class that has a base hook (list_base_hook) and also derives from test_class.

func_ptr_adaptor is just a functor adaptor to convert function objects taking test_list objects to function objects taking pointers to them.

You can find the full test code in the perf_list.cpp source file.

The first test will measure the benefits we can obtain with intrusive containers avoiding memory allocations and deallocations. All the objects to be inserted in intrusive containers are allocated in a single allocation call, whereas std::list will need to allocate memory for each object and deallocate it for every erasure (or container destruction).

Let's compare the code to be executed for each container type for different insertion tests:

std::vector<typename ilist::value_type> objects(NumElements);
ilist l;
for(int i = 0; i < NumElements; ++i)
   l.push_back(objects[i]);
//Elements are unlinked in ilist's destructor
//Elements are destroyed in vector's destructor

For intrusive containers, all the values are created in a vector and after that inserted in the intrusive list.

stdlist l;
for(int i = 0; i < NumElements; ++i)
   l.push_back(typename stdlist::value_type(i));
//Elements unlinked and destroyed in stdlist's destructor

For a standard list, elements are pushed back using push_back().

std::vector<typename stdlist::value_type> objects(NumElements);
stdptrlist l;
for(int i = 0; i < NumElements; ++i)
   l.push_back(&objects[i]);
//Pointers to elements unlinked and destroyed in stdptrlist's destructor
//Elements destroyed in vector's destructor

For a standard compact pointer list, elements are created in a vector and pushed back in the pointer list using push_back().

stdlist objects;  stdptrlist l;
for(int i = 0; i < NumElements; ++i){
   objects.push_back(typename stdlist::value_type(i));
   l.push_back(&objects.back());
}
//Pointers to elements unlinked and destroyed in stdptrlist's destructor
//Elements unlinked and destroyed in stdlist's destructor

For a disperse pointer list, elements are created in a list and pushed back in the pointer list using push_back().

These are the times in microseconds for each case, and the normalized time:

Table 17.2. Back insertion + destruction times for Visual C++ 7.1 / Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

5000 / 22500

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

7812 / 32187

1.56 / 1.43

auto_unlink intrusive list

10156 / 41562

2.03 / 1.84

Standard list

26875 / 97500

5.37 / 4.33

Standard compact pointer list

76406 / 86718

15.28 / 3.85

Standard disperse pointer list

146562 / 175625

29.31 / 7.80


Table 17.3. Back insertion + destruction times for GCC 4.1.1 / MinGW over Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

4375 / 22187

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

7812 / 32812

1.78 / 1.47

auto_unlink intrusive list

10468 / 42031

2.39 / 1.89

Standard list

81250 / 98125

18.57 / 4.42

Standard compact pointer list

83750 / 94218

19.14 / 4.24

Standard disperse pointer list

155625 / 175625

35.57 / 7.91


Table 17.4. Back insertion + destruction times for GCC 4.1.2 / Linux Kernel 2.6.18 (OpenSuse 10.2)

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

4792 / 20495

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

7709 / 30803

1.60 / 1.5

auto_unlink intrusive list

10180 / 41183

2.12 / 2.0

Standard list

17031 / 32586

3.55 / 1.58

Standard compact pointer list

27221 / 34823

5.68 / 1.69

Standard disperse pointer list

102272 / 60056

21.34 / 2.93


The results are logical: intrusive lists just need one allocation. The destruction time of the normal_link intrusive container is trivial (complexity: O(1)), whereas safe_link and auto_unlink intrusive containers need to put the hooks of erased values in the default state (complexity: O(NumElements)). That's why normal_link intrusive list shines in this test.

Non-intrusive containers need to make many more allocations and that's why they lag behind. The disperse pointer list needs to make NumElements*2 allocations, so the result is not surprising.

The Linux test shows that standard containers perform very well against intrusive containers with big objects. Nearly the same GCC version in MinGW performs worse, so maybe a good memory allocator is the reason for these excellent results.

The next test measures the time needed to complete calls to the member function reverse(). Values (test_class and itest_class) and lists are created as explained in the previous section.

Note that for pointer lists, reverse does not need to access test_class values stored in another list or vector, since this function just needs to adjust internal pointers, so in theory all tested lists need to perform the same operations.

These are the results:

Table 17.5. Reverse times for Visual C++ 7.1 / Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

2656 / 10625

1 / 1.83

safe_link intrusive list

2812 / 10937

1.05 / 1.89

auto_unlink intrusive list

2710 / 10781

1.02 / 1.86

Standard list

5781 / 14531

2.17 / 2.51

Standard compact pointer list

5781 / 5781

2.17 / 1

Standard disperse pointer list

10781 / 15781

4.05 / 2.72


Table 17.6. Reverse times for GCC 4.1.1 / MinGW over Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

2656 / 10781

1 / 2.22

safe_link intrusive list

2656 / 10781

1 / 2.22

auto_unlink intrusive list

2812 / 10781

1.02 / 2.22

Standard list

4843 / 12500

1.82 / 2.58

Standard compact pointer list

4843 / 4843

1.82 / 1

Standard disperse pointer list

9218 / 12968

3.47 / 2.67


Table 17.7. Reverse times for GCC 4.1.2 / Linux Kernel 2.6.18 (OpenSuse 10.2)

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

2742 / 10847

1 / 3.41

safe_link intrusive list

2742 / 10847

1 / 3.41

auto_unlink intrusive list

2742 / 11027

1 / 3.47

Standard list

3184 / 10942

1.16 / 3.44

Standard compact pointer list

3207 / 3176

1.16 / 1

Standard disperse pointer list

5814 / 13381

2.12 / 4.21


For small objects the results show that the compact storage of values in intrusive containers improve locality and reversing is faster than with standard containers, whose values might be dispersed in memory because each value is independently allocated. Note that the dispersed pointer list (a list of pointers to values allocated in another list) suffers more because nodes of the pointer list might be more dispersed, since allocations from both lists are interleaved in the code:

//Object list (holding `test_class`)
stdlist objects;

//Pointer list (holding `test_class` pointers)
stdptrlist l;

for(int i = 0; i < NumElements; ++i){
   //Allocation from the object list
   objects.push_back(stdlist::value_type(i));
   //Allocation from the pointer list
   l.push_back(&objects.back());
}

For big objects the compact pointer list wins because the reversal test doesn't need access to values stored in another container. Since all the allocations for nodes of this pointer list are likely to be close (since there is no other allocation in the process until the pointer list is created) locality is better than with intrusive containers. The dispersed pointer list, as with small values, has poor locality.

The next test measures the time needed to complete calls to the member function sort(Pred pred). Values (test_class and itest_class) and lists are created as explained in the first section. The values will be sorted in ascending and descending order each iteration. For example, if l is a list:

for(int i = 0; i < NumIter; ++i){
   if(!(i % 2))
      l.sort(std::greater<stdlist::value_type>());
   else
      l.sort(std::less<stdlist::value_type>());
}

For a pointer list, the function object will be adapted using func_ptr_adaptor:

for(int i = 0; i < NumIter; ++i){
   if(!(i % 2))
      l.sort(func_ptr_adaptor<std::greater<stdlist::value_type> >());
   else
      l.sort(func_ptr_adaptor<std::less<stdlist::value_type> >());
}

Note that for pointer lists, sort will take a function object that will access test_class values stored in another list or vector, so pointer lists will suffer an extra indirection: they will need to access the test_class values stored in another container to compare two elements.

These are the results:

Table 17.8. Sort times for Visual C++ 7.1 / Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

16093 / 38906

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

16093 / 39062

1 / 1

auto_unlink intrusive list

16093 / 38906

1 / 1

Standard list

32343 / 56406

2.0 / 1.44

Standard compact pointer list

33593 / 46093

2.08 / 1.18

Standard disperse pointer list

46875 / 68593

2.91 / 1.76


Table 17.9. Sort times for GCC 4.1.1 / MinGW over Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

15000 / 39218

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

15156 / 39531

1.01 / 1.01

auto_unlink intrusive list

15156 / 39531

1.01 / 1.01

Standard list

34218 / 56875

2.28 / 1.45

Standard compact pointer list

35468 / 49218

2.36 / 1.25

Standard disperse pointer list

47656 / 70156

3.17 / 1.78


Table 17.10. Sort times for GCC 4.1.2 / Linux Kernel 2.6.18 (OpenSuse 10.2)

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

18003 / 40795

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

18003 / 41017

1 / 1

auto_unlink intrusive list

18230 / 40941

1.01 / 1

Standard list

26273 / 49643

1.45 / 1.21

Standard compact pointer list

28540 / 43172

1.58 / 1.05

Standard disperse pointer list

35077 / 57638

1.94 / 1.41


The results show that intrusive containers are faster than standard containers. We can see that the pointer list holding pointers to values stored in a vector is quite fast, so the extra indirection that is needed to access the value is minimized because all the values are tightly stored, improving caching. The disperse list, on the other hand, is slower because the indirection to access values stored in the object list is more expensive than accessing values stored in a vector.

The next test measures the time needed to iterate through all the elements of a list, and increment the value of the internal i_ member:

stdlist::iterator it(l.begin()), end(l.end());
for(; it != end; ++it)
   ++(it->i_);

Values (test_class and itest_class) and lists are created as explained in the first section. Note that for pointer lists, the iteration will suffer an extra indirection: they will need to access the test_class values stored in another container:

stdptrlist::iterator it(l.begin()), end(l.end());
for(; it != end; ++it)
   ++((*it)->i_);

These are the results:

Table 17.11. Write access times for Visual C++ 7.1 / Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

2031 / 8125

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

2031 / 8281

1 / 1.01

auto_unlink intrusive list

2031 / 8281

1 / 1.01

Standard list

4218 / 10000

2.07 / 1.23

Standard compact pointer list

4062 / 8437

2.0 / 1.03

Standard disperse pointer list

8593 / 13125

4.23 / 1.61


Table 17.12. Write access times for GCC 4.1.1 / MinGW over Windows XP

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

2343 / 8281

1 / 1

safe_link intrusive list

2500 / 8281

1.06 / 1

auto_unlink intrusive list

2500 / 8281

1.06 / 1

Standard list

4218 / 10781

1.8 / 1.3

Standard compact pointer list

3906 / 8281

1.66 / 1

Standard disperse pointer list

8281 / 13750

3.53 / 1.66


Table 17.13. Write access times for GCC 4.1.2 / Linux Kernel 2.6.18 (OpenSuse 10.2)

Container

Time in us/iteration (small object / big object)

Normalized time (small object / big object)

normal_link intrusive list

2286 / 8468

1 / 1.1

safe_link intrusive list

2381 / 8412

1.04 / 1.09

auto_unlink intrusive list

2301 / 8437

1.01 / 1.1

Standard list

3044 / 9061

1.33 / 1.18

Standard compact pointer list

2755 / 7660

1.20 / 1

Standard disperse pointer list

6118 / 12453

2.67 / 1.62


As with the read access test, the results show that intrusive containers outperform all other containers if the values are tightly packed in a vector. The disperse list is again the slowest.

Intrusive containers can offer performance benefits that cannot be achieved with equivalent non-intrusive containers. Memory locality improvements are noticeable when the objects to be inserted are small. Minimizing memory allocation/deallocation calls is also an important factor and intrusive containers make this simple if all objects to be inserted in intrusive containers are allocated using std::vector or std::deque.


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