Is virtual function call slower than dynamic_cast? - c++

Question

I know that dynamic_cast has a serious cost, but when I try the following codes, I get a bigger value almost every time from virtual function call loop. Do I know wrong until this time?
EDIT: The problem was that my compiler had been in debug mode. When I switched to release mode, virtual function call loop runs 5 to 7 times faster than dynamic_cast loop.
struct A {
virtual void foo() {}
};
struct B : public A {
virtual void foo() override {}
};
struct C : public B {
virtual void foo() override {}
};
int main()
{
vector<A *> vec;
for (int i = 0; i < 100000; ++i)
if (i % 2)
vec.push_back(new C());
else
vec.push_back(new B());
clock_t begin = clock();
for (auto iter : vec)
if (dynamic_cast<C*>(iter))
;
clock_t end = clock();
cout << (static_cast<double>(end) - begin) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC << endl;
begin = clock();
for (auto iter : vec)
iter->foo();
end = clock();
cout << (static_cast<double>(end) - begin) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC << endl;
return 0;
}

Answer 1

Since you are not doing anything with the result of the dynamic_cast in the lines
for (auto iter : vec)
if (dynamic_cast<C*>(iter))
;
the compiler might be optimizing away most of that code if not all of it.
If you do something useful with the result of the dynamic_cast, you might see a difference. You could try:
for (auto iter : vec)
{
if (C* cptr = dynamic_cast<C*>(iter))
{
cptr->foo();
}
if (B* bptr = dynamic_cast<B*>(iter))
{
bptr->foo();
}
}
That will most likely make a difference.
See http://ideone.com/BvqoqU for a sample run.

Answer 2

Do I know wrong until this time?
We probably can not tell from your code. The optimizer is clever, and it is some times quite challenging to 'defeat' or 'deceive' it.
In the following, I use 'assert()' to try to control the optimizer's enthusiasm. Also note that 'time(0)' is a fast function on Ubuntu 15.10. I believe the compiler does not yet know what the combination will do, and thus will not remove it, providing a more reliable/repeatable measurement.
I think I like these results better, and perhaps these indicate that dynamic cast is slower than virtual function invocation.
Environment:
on an older Dell, using Ubuntu 15.10, 64 bit, and -O3
~$ g++-5 --version
g++-5 (Ubuntu 5.2.1-23ubuntu1~15.10) 5.2.1 20151028
Results (dynamic cast followed by virtual funtion):
void T523_t::testStruct()
0.443445
0.184873
void T523_t::testClass()
252,495 us
184,961 us
FINI 2914399 us
Code:
#include <chrono>
// 'compressed' chrono access --------------vvvvvvv
typedef std::chrono::high_resolution_clock HRClk_t; // std-chrono-hi-res-clk
typedef HRClk_t::time_point Time_t; // std-chrono-hi-res-clk-time-point
typedef std::chrono::milliseconds MS_t; // std-chrono-milliseconds
typedef std::chrono::microseconds US_t; // std-chrono-microseconds
typedef std::chrono::nanoseconds NS_t; // std-chrono-nanoseconds
using namespace std::chrono_literals; // support suffixes like 100ms, 2s, 30us
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <vector>
#include <cassert>
// original ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
struct A {
virtual ~A() = default; // warning: ‘struct A’ has virtual functions and
// accessible non-virtual destructor [-Wnon-virtual-dtor]
virtual void foo() { assert(time(0)); }
};
struct B : public A {
virtual void foo() override { assert(time(0)); }
};
struct C : public B {
virtual void foo() override { assert(time(0)); }
};
// with class ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// If your C++ code has no class ... why bother?
class A_t {
public:
virtual ~A_t() = default; // warning: ‘struct A’ has virtual functions and
// accessible non-virtual destructor [-Wnon-virtual-dtor]
virtual void foo() { assert(time(0)); }
};
class B_t : public A_t {
public:
virtual void foo() override { assert(time(0)); }
};
class C_t : public B_t {
public:
virtual void foo() override { assert(time(0)); }
};
class T523_t
{
public:
T523_t() = default;
~T523_t() = default;
int exec()
{
testStruct();
testClass();
return(0);
}
private: // methods
std::string digiComma(std::string s)
{ //vvvvv--sSize must be signed int of sufficient size
int32_t sSize = static_cast<int32_t>(s.size());
if (sSize > 3)
for (int32_t indx = (sSize - 3); indx > 0; indx -= 3)
s.insert(static_cast<size_t>(indx), 1, ',');
return(s);
}
void testStruct()
{
using std::vector;
using std::cout; using std::endl;
std::cout << "\n\n " << __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << std::endl;
vector<A *> vec;
for (int i = 0; i < 10000000; ++i)
if (i % 2)
vec.push_back(new C());
else
vec.push_back(new B());
clock_t begin = clock();
int i=0;
for (auto iter : vec)
{
if(i % 2) (assert(dynamic_cast<C*>(iter))); // if (dynamic_cast<C*>(iter)) {};
else (assert(dynamic_cast<B*>(iter)));
}
clock_t end = clock();
cout << "\n " << std::setw(8)
<< ((static_cast<double>(end) - static_cast<double>(begin))
/ CLOCKS_PER_SEC) << endl; //^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
// warning: conversion to ‘double’ from ‘clock_t {aka long int}’ may alter its value [-Wconversion]
begin = clock();
for (auto iter : vec)
iter->foo();
end = clock();
cout << "\n " << std::setw(8)
<< ((static_cast<double>(end) - static_cast<double>(begin))
/ CLOCKS_PER_SEC) << endl; //^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
// warning: conversion to ‘double’ from ‘clock_t {aka long int}’ may alter its value [-Wconversion]
}
void testClass()
{
std::cout << "\n\n " << __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ << std::endl;
std::vector<A_t *> APtrVec;
for (int i = 0; i < 10000000; ++i)
{
if (i % 2) APtrVec.push_back(new C_t());
else APtrVec.push_back(new B_t());
}
{
Time_t start_us = HRClk_t::now();
int i = 0;
for (auto Aptr : APtrVec)
{
if(i % 2) assert(dynamic_cast<C_t*>(Aptr)); // check for nullptr
else assert(dynamic_cast<B_t*>(Aptr)); // check for nullptr
++i;
}
auto duration_us = std::chrono::duration_cast<US_t>(HRClk_t::now() - start_us);
std::cout << "\n " << std::setw(8)
<< digiComma(std::to_string(duration_us.count()))
<< " us" << std::endl;
}
{
Time_t start_us = HRClk_t::now();
for (auto Aptr : APtrVec) {
Aptr->foo();
}
auto duration_us = std::chrono::duration_cast<US_t>(HRClk_t::now() - start_us);
std::cout << "\n " << std::setw(8)
<< digiComma(std::to_string(duration_us.count()))
<< " us" << std::endl;
}
}
}; // class T523_t
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
std::cout << "\nargc: " << argc << std::endl;
for (int i = 0; i < argc; i += 1) std::cout << argv[i] << " ";
std::cout << std::endl;
setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
std::ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
{ time_t t0 = std::time(nullptr); while(t0 == time(nullptr)) { /**/ }; }
Time_t start_us = HRClk_t::now();
int retVal = -1;
{
T523_t t523;
retVal = t523.exec();
}
auto duration_us = std::chrono::duration_cast<US_t>(HRClk_t::now() - start_us);
std::cout << "\n FINI " << (std::to_string(duration_us.count()))
<< " us" << std::endl;
return(retVal);
}
update 2017-08-31
I suspect many of you will object to performing the dynamic cast without using the result. Here is one possible approach by replacing the for-auto loop in testClass() method:
for (auto Aptr : APtrVec)
{
if(i % 2) { C_t* c = dynamic_cast<C_t*>(Aptr); assert(c); c->foo(); }
else { B_t* b = dynamic_cast<B_t*>(Aptr); assert(b); b->foo(); }
++i;
}
With results
void T523_t::testStruct()
0.443445
0.184873
void T523_t::testClass()
322,431 us
191,285 us
FINI 4156941 us
end update