Re: [Caml-list] Re: How to read different ints from a Bigarray?

[Goswin von Brederlow <goswin-v-b@web.de>]

Sylvain Le Gall <sylvain@le-gall.net> writes:

> Hello,
>
> On 28-10-2009, Goswin von Brederlow <goswin-v-b@web.de> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm working on binding s for linux libaio library (asynchron IO) with
>> a sharp eye on efficiency. That means no copying must be done on the
>> data, which in turn means I can not use string as buffer type.
>>
>> The best type for this seems to be a (int, int8_unsigned_elt,
>> c_layout) Bigarray.Array1.t. So far so good.
>>
>> Now I define helper functions:
>>
>> let get_uint8 buf off = buf.{off}
>> let set_uint8 buf off x = buf.{off} <- x
>>
>> But I want more:
>>
>> get/set_int8 - do I use Obj.magic to "convert" to int8_signed_elt?
>>
>> And endian correcting access for larger ints:
>>
>> get/set_big_uint16
>> get/set_big_int16
>> get/set_little_uint16
>> get/set_little_int16
>> get/set_big_uint24
>> ...
>> get/set_little_int56
>> get/set_big_int64
>> get/set_little_int64
>>
>> What is the best way there? For uintXX I can get_uint8 each byte and
>> shift and add them together. But that feels inefficient as each access
>> will range check and the shifting generates a lot of code while cpus
>> can usualy endian correct an int more elegantly.
>>
>> Is it worth the overhead of calling a C function to write optimized
>> stubs for this?
>>
>> And last:
>>
>> get/set_string, blit_from/to_string
>>
>> Do I create a string where needed and then loop over every char
>> calling s.(i) <- char_of_int buf.{off+i}? Or better a C function using
>> memcpy?
>>
>> What do you think?
>>
>
> Well, we talk about this a little bit, but here is my opinion:
> - calling a C function to add a single int will generate a big overhead
> - OCaml string are quite fast to modify values
>
> So to my mind the best option is to have a buffer string (say 16/32
> char) where you put data inside and flush it in a single C call to
> Bigarray. 
>
> E.g.:
> let append_char t c =
>   if t.idx >= 64 then
>     (
>       flush t.bigarray t.buffer;
>       t.idx <- 0
>     );
>   t.buffer.(t.idx) <- c;
>   t.idx <- t.idx + 1
>
> let append_little_uint16 t i =
>   append_char t ((i lsr 8) land 0xFF);
>   append_char t ((i lsr 0) land 0xFF)
>   
>
> I have used this kind of technique and it seems as fast as C, and a lot
> less C coding.
>
> Regards,
> Sylvain Le Gall

This wont work so nicely:

- Writes are not always in sequence. I want to do a stream access
  too where this could be verry effective. But the plain buffer is
  more for random / known offset access. At a minimum you would have
  holes for alignment.

- It makes read/write buffers complicated as you need to flush or peek
  the string in case of uncommited changes. I can't do write-only
  buffers as I want to be able to write a buffer and then add a
  checksum to it in my application. The lib should not block that.

- The data is passed to libaio and needs to be kept alive and unmoved
  as long as libaio knows it. I was hoping I could use the pointer to
  the data to register/unregister GC roots without having to add a
  another custom header and indirections.


I also still wonder how bad a C function call really is. Consider the
case of writing an int64.

Directly: You get one C call that does range check, endian convert and
write in one go.

Bffered: With your code you have 7 Int64 shifts, 8 Int64 lands, 8
conversions to int, at least one index check (more likely 8 to avoid
handling unaligned access) and 1/8 C call to blit the 64 byte buffer
string into the Bigarray.

MfG
        Goswin

PS: Is a.{i} <- x a C call?