Caching a single overridden computation C++11 - c++

Question

I'd like advice on a way to cache a computation that is shared by two derived classes. As an illustration, I have two types of normalized vectors L1 and L2, which each define their own normalization constant (note: against good practice I'm inheriting from std::vector here as a quick illustration-- believe it or not, my real problem is not about L1 and L2 vectors!):
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <math.h>
struct NormalizedVector : public std::vector<double> {
NormalizedVector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
std::vector<double>(init_list) { }
double get_value(int i) const {
return (*this)[i] / get_normalization_constant();
}
virtual double get_normalization_constant() const = 0;
};
struct L1Vector : public NormalizedVector {
L1Vector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
NormalizedVector(init_list) { }
double get_normalization_constant() const {
double tot = 0.0;
for (int k=0; k<size(); ++k)
tot += (*this)[k];
return tot;
}
};
struct L2Vector : public NormalizedVector {
L2Vector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
NormalizedVector(init_list) { }
double get_normalization_constant() const {
double tot = 0.0;
for (int k=0; k<size(); ++k) {
double val = (*this)[k];
tot += val * val;
}
return sqrt(tot);
}
};
int main() {
L1Vector vec{0.25, 0.5, 1.0};
std::cout << "L1 ";
for (int k=0; k<vec.size(); ++k)
std::cout << vec.get_value(k) << " ";
std::cout << std::endl;
std::cout << "L2 ";
L2Vector vec2{0.25, 0.5, 1.0};
for (int k=0; k<vec2.size(); ++k)
std::cout << vec2.get_value(k) << " ";
std::cout << std::endl;
return 0;
}
This code is unnecessarily slow for large vectors because it calls get_normalization_constant() repeatedly, even though it doesn't change after construction (assuming modifiers like push_back have appropriately been disabled).
If I was only considering one form of normalization, I would simply use a double value to cache this result on construction:
struct NormalizedVector : public std::vector<double> {
NormalizedVector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
std::vector<double>(init_list) {
normalization_constant = get_normalization_constant();
}
double get_value(int i) const {
return (*this)[i] / normalization_constant;
}
virtual double get_normalization_constant() const = 0;
double normalization_constant;
};
However, this understandably doesn't compile because the NormalizedVector constructor tries to call a pure virtual function (the derived virtual table is not available during base initialization).
Option 1:
Derived classes must manually call the normalization_constant = get_normalization_constant(); function in their constructors.
Option 2:
Objects define a virtual function for initializing the constant:
init_normalization_constant() {
normalization_constant = get_normalization_constant();
}
Objects are then constructed by a factory:
struct NormalizedVector : public std::vector<double> {
NormalizedVector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
std::vector<double>(init_list) {
// init_normalization_constant();
}
double get_value(int i) const {
return (*this)[i] / normalization_constant;
}
virtual double get_normalization_constant() const = 0;
virtual void init_normalization_constant() {
normalization_constant = get_normalization_constant();
}
double normalization_constant;
};
// ...
// same code for derived types here
// ...
template <typename TYPE>
struct Factory {
template <typename ...ARGTYPES>
static TYPE construct_and_init(ARGTYPES...args) {
TYPE result(args...);
result.init_normalization_constant();
return result;
}
};
int main() {
L1Vector vec = Factory<L1Vector>::construct_and_init<std::initializer_list<double> >({0.25, 0.5, 1.0});
std::cout << "L1 ";
for (int k=0; k<vec.size(); ++k)
std::cout << vec.get_value(k) << " ";
std::cout << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Option 3:
Use an actual cache: get_normalization_constant is defined as a new type, CacheFunctor; the first time CacheFunctor is called, it saves the return value.
In Python, this works as originally coded, because the virtual table is always present, even in __init__ of a base class. In C++ this is much trickier.
I'd really appreciate the help; this comes up a lot for me. I feel like I'm getting the hang of good object oriented design in C++, but not always when it comes to making very efficient code (especially in the case of this sort of simple caching).

Answer 1

I suggest the non-virtual interface pattern. This pattern excels when you want a method to provide both common and unique functionality. (In this case, caching in common, computation in uniqueness.)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/More_C%2B%2B_Idioms/Non-Virtual_Interface
// UNTESTED
struct NormalizedVector : public std::vector<double> {
...
double normalization_constant;
bool cached;
virtual double do_get_normalization_constant() = 0;
double get_normalization_constant() {
if(!cached) {
cached = true;
normalization_constant = do_get_normalization_constant();
}
return normalization_constant;
};
P.s. You really ought not publicly derive from std::vector.
P.P.s. Invalidating the cache is as simple as setting cached to false.
Complete Solution
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <cmath>
#include <algorithm>
struct NormalizedVector : private std::vector<double> {
private:
typedef std::vector<double> Base;
protected:
using Base::operator[];
using Base::begin;
using Base::end;
public:
using Base::size;
NormalizedVector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
std::vector<double>(init_list) { }
double get_value(int i) const {
return (*this)[i] / get_normalization_constant();
}
virtual double do_get_normalization_constant() const = 0;
mutable bool normalization_constant_valid;
mutable double normalization_constant;
double get_normalization_constant() const {
if(!normalization_constant_valid) {
normalization_constant = do_get_normalization_constant();
normalization_constant_valid = true;
}
return normalization_constant;
}
void push_back(const double& value) {
normalization_constant_valid = false;
Base::push_back(value);
}
virtual ~NormalizedVector() {}
};
struct L1Vector : public NormalizedVector {
L1Vector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
NormalizedVector(init_list) { get_normalization_constant(); }
double do_get_normalization_constant() const {
return std::accumulate(begin(), end(), 0.0);
}
};
struct L2Vector : public NormalizedVector {
L2Vector(std::initializer_list<double> init_list):
NormalizedVector(init_list) { get_normalization_constant(); }
double do_get_normalization_constant() const {
return std::sqrt(
std::accumulate(begin(), end(), 0.0,
[](double a, double b) { return a + b * b; } ) );
}
};
std::ostream&
operator<<(std::ostream& os, NormalizedVector& vec) {
for (int k=0; k<vec.size(); ++k)
os << vec.get_value(k) << " ";
return os;
}
int main() {
L1Vector vec{0.25, 0.5, 1.0};
std::cout << "L1 " << vec << "\n";
vec.push_back(2.0);
std::cout << "L1 " << vec << "\n";
L2Vector vec2{0.25, 0.5, 1.0};
std::cout << "L2 " << vec2 << "\n";
vec2.push_back(2.0);
std::cout << "L2 " << vec2 << "\n";
return 0;
}

Answer 2

A quick and dirty solution is to use static member variable.
double get_normalization_constant() const {
static double tot = 0.0;
if( tot == 0.0 )
for (int k=0; k<size(); ++k)
tot += (*this)[k];
return tot;
}
In this case, it will only be computed once.. and each time it will return the latest value.
NOTE:
This double tot, will be shared will all objects of same type. Don't use it if you will create many object of the type L1Vector