Subject: [boost] [Multiprecision] Benchmarking
From: Phil Endecott (spam_from_boost_dev_at_[hidden])
Date: 2012-06-14 11:40:33
Dear All,
I have attempted to evaluate the proposed multiprecision library by
applying it to the "Dealaunay Flip" function for 32-bit integer
coordinates, as this is one of the few things that I've ever
implemented that needed more than 64-bit integers:
inline bool delaunay_test(int32_t ax, int32_t ay, int32_t bx, int32_t by,
int32_t cx, int32_t cy, int32_t dx, int32_t dy)
{
// Test whether the quadrilateral ABCD's diagonal AC should be
flipped to BD.
// This is the Cline & Renka method.
// Flip if the sum of the angles ABC and CDA is greater than 180 degrees.
// Equivalently, flip if sin(ABC + CDA) < 0.
// Trig identity: cos(ABC) * sin(CDA) + sin(ABC) * cos(CDA) < 0
// We can use scalar and vector products to find sin and cos, and simplify
// to the following code.
// Numerical robustness is important. This code addresses it by performing
// exact calculations with large integer types.
i64 ax64 = ax, ay64 = ay, bx64 = bx, by64 = by,
cx64 = cx, cy64 = cy, dx64 = dx, dy64 = dy;
i64 cos_abc = (ax64-bx64)*(cx64-bx64) + (ay64-by64)*(cy64-by64);
i64 cos_cda = (cx64-dx64)*(ax64-dx64) + (cy64-dy64)*(ay64-dy64);
if (cos_abc >= 0 && cos_cda >= 0) return false;
if (cos_abc < 0 && cos_cda < 0) return true;
i64 sin_abc = (ax64-bx64)*(cy64-by64) - (cx64-bx64)*(ay64-by64);
i64 sin_cda = (cx64-dx64)*(ay64-dy64) - (ax64-dx64)*(cy64-dy64);
i128 sin_sum = static_cast<i128>(sin_abc)*cos_cda
+ static_cast<i128>(cos_abc)*sin_cda;
return sin_sum < 0;
}
As you can see, with 32-bit inputs, the first set of computations yield
64-bit results and about half of calls terminate at this stage.
Otherwise a calculation yielding a 128-bit result is carried out. In
practice, the results of the subtractions are typically small and the
128-bit value rarely has more than 64 significant bits.
I have compared the following types used for i64 and i128 in the code above:
(1) int64_t and int64_t (which gives WRONG ANSWERS, but is useful for comparison)
(2) int64_t and my own "quick and dirty" int128_t.
(3) cpp_int.
(4) int64_t and cpp_int.
(5) cpp_int without expression templates.
(6) int64_t and cpp_int without expression templates.
(7) int64_t and mp_int128_t.
(8) mpz_int.
(9) int64_t and mpz_int.
Mean times per function call are as follows:
(1) 39.3 ns
(2) 61.9 ns
(3) 513 ns
(4) 103 ns
(5) 446 ns
(6) 102 ns
(7) 102 ns
(8) 2500 ns
(9) 680 ns
(AMD Athlon(tm) II X2 250e Processor @ 3 GHz; g++ 4.6.1.)
Note that:
- GMP is slowest, despite oft-repeated claims about its good performance.
- Expression templates make the code slower.
- Even the fastest Boost.Multiprecision type, mp_int128_t, is
significantly slower than my own quick hack.
This is all a bit disappointing. Perhaps the problem is that I'm
dealing only with 128 bits and the intended application is for much
larger values?
I am reminded of my experience with xint last year. See e.g. this thread:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel/215565
The current proposal seems much better - xint was hundreds of times
slower than my ad-hoc code - but I still find it discouraging. I
suspect that the performance difference may be attributable to the use
of sign-magnitude representation; as a result, the implementation is
full of sign-testing like this:
template <unsigned MinBits, bool Signed, class Allocator>
inline void eval_subtract(cpp_int_backend<MinBits, Signed, Allocator>&
result, const signed_limb_type& o)
{
if(o)
{
if(o < 0)
eval_add(result, static_cast<limb_type>(-o));
else
eval_subtract(result, static_cast<limb_type>(o));
}
}
I think I understand the motivation for sign-magnitude for
variable-length representation, but I don't see any benefit in the case
of e.g. mp_int128_t.
I also wonder about the work involved in e.g. a 64 x 64 -> 128-bit
multiplication. Here is my version, based on 32x32->64 multiplies:
inline int128_t mult_64x64_to_128(int64_t a, int64_t b)
{
// Make life simple by dealing only with positive numbers:
bool neg = false;
if (a<0) { neg = !neg; a = -a; }
if (b<0) { neg = !neg; b = -b; }
// Divide input into 32-bit halves:
uint32_t ah = a >> 32;
uint32_t al = a & 0xffffffff;
uint32_t bh = b >> 32;
uint32_t bl = b & 0xffffffff;
// Long multiplication, with 64-bit temporaries:
// ah al
// * bh bl
// ----------------
// al*bl (t1)
// + ah*bl (t2)
// + al*bh (t3)
// + ah*bh (t4)
// ----------------
uint64_t t1 = static_cast<uint64_t>(al)*bl;
uint64_t t2 = static_cast<uint64_t>(ah)*bl;
uint64_t t3 = static_cast<uint64_t>(al)*bh;
uint64_t t4 = static_cast<uint64_t>(ah)*bh;
int128_t r(t1);
r.high = t4;
r += int128_t(t2) << 32;
r += int128_t(t3) << 32;
if (neg) r = -r;
return r;
}
So I need 4 32x32->64 multiplies to perform 1 64x64->128 multiply.
But we can't write this:
int64_t a, b ...;
int128_t r = a * b;
because here a*b is a 64x64->64 multiply; instead we have to write
something like
r = static_cast<int128_t>(a)*b;
so that our operator* overload is found; but this operator* doesn't
know that its int128_t argument is actually a promoted int64_t, and it
has to do an 128x64->128 or 128x128->128 multiply, requiring 8 or 16
32x32->64 multiplies. The only chance of avoiding the extra work is if
the compiler can do constant-propagation, but I have my doubts about that.
Any thoughts?
My test code is here: http://chezphil.org/tmp/boost_mp_review.tbz2
$ make
$ cat nn100000.dat | benchmark
(Note that this needs a fix to the resize() issue reported earlier in
order to get accurate answers, but that doesn't much alter the
execution time.)
Regards, Phil.