I have implemented a rudimentary vector using the code from the Weiss C textbook on data structures (see below). when i time it with 100,000 push_backs it takes 0.001 seconds.

when i do the exact same experiment using the stl::vector, it takes 0.008 seconds (roughly 8x slower). does anyone know why this is? thanks

#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
#include <ctime>
#include <vector>

template<typename Object>
class Vector {

public:

    // normal constructor
    explicit Vector(int initialSize = 0) :
        theSize{ initialSize }, theCapacity{ initialSize   SPARE_CAPACITY },
        objects{ new Object[theCapacity] }
    {}

    // copy constructor
    Vector(const Vector& rhs) :
        theSize{ rhs.theSize }, theCapacity{ rhs.theCapacity }, objects{ nullptr }
    {
        objects = new Object[theCapacity];
        for (int k = 0; k < theSize;   k)
            objects[k] = rhs.objects[k];
    }

    // copy assignment operator
    Vector& operator=(const Vector& rhs)
    {
        Vector copy = rhs;
        std::swap(*this, copy);
        return *this;
    }

    // destructor
    ~Vector()
    {
        delete[] objects;
    }

    // move constructor
    Vector(Vector&& rhs) :
        theSize{ rhs.theSize }, theCapacity{ rhs.theCapacity }, objects{ rhs.objects }
    {
        rhs.objects = nullptr;
        rhs.theSize = 0;
        rhs.theCapacity = 0;
    }

    // move assignment operator
    Vector& operator=(Vector&& rhs)
    {
        std::swap(theSize, rhs.theSize);
        std::swap(theCapacity, rhs.theCapacity);
        std::swap(objects, rhs.objects);

        return *this;
    }

    void resize(int newSize)
    {
        if (newSize > theCapacity)
            reserve(newSize * 2); // talk about amortized time (python book)
        theSize = newSize;
    }

    void reserve(int newCapacity)
    {
        if (newCapacity < theSize)
            return;

        Object* newArray = new Object[newCapacity];
        for (int k = 0; k < theSize;   k)
            newArray[k] = std::move(objects[k]);

        theCapacity = newCapacity;
        std::swap(objects, newArray);
        delete[] newArray;
    }

    Object& operator[](int index)
    {
        return objects[index];
    }

    const Object& operator[](int index)const
    {
        return objects[index];
    }

    bool empty() const
    {
        return size() == 0;
    }

    int size() const
    {
        return theSize;
    }

    int capacity() const
    {
        return theCapacity; 
    }

    void push_back(const Object& x)
    {
        if (theSize == theCapacity)
            reserve(2 * theCapacity   1);

        objects[theSize  ] = x; 
    }

    void push_back(Object&& x)
    {
        if (theSize == theCapacity)
            reserve(2 * theCapacity   1);

        objects[theSize  ] = std::move(x); 
    }

    void pop_back()
    {
        --theSize;
    }

    const Object& back() const
    {
        return objects[theSize - 1];
    }

    // iterator
    typedef Object* iterator;
    typedef const Object* const_iterator;

    iterator begin()
    {
        return &objects[0];
    }
    const_iterator begin() const
    {
        return &objects[0];
    }
    iterator end()
    {
        return &objects[size()];
    }
    const_iterator end() const
    {
        return &objects[size()];
    }

    static const int SPARE_CAPACITY = 16; 

private:
    int theSize;
    int theCapacity;
    Object* objects; 
};


int main()
{
    std::clock_t start;
    start = std::clock(); 
    std::vector<int> vec2{ 0 };
    for (int i = 0; i < 100000; i  )
        vec2.push_back(i);
    double duration = (std::clock() - start) / (double)CLOCKS_PER_SEC;

    std::cout << "printf: " << duration << '\n';


    start = std::clock();       
    Vector<int> vec{ 0 };
    for (int i = 0; i < 100000; i  )
        vec.push_back(i);

    duration = (std::clock() - start) / (double)CLOCKS_PER_SEC;

    std::cout << "printf: " << duration << '\n';


    
    
}

CodePudding user response：

Your vector implementation and std::vector are fundamentally different.

Your vector default-constructs all values in the vector, up to reserve capacity, and push_back() merely replaces the next reserved value with the new value, using the assignment operator.

std::vector is fundamentally different,, and does not default-construct "non-existent" values in the vector, but constructs them "for real-sies". std::vector::push_back constructs the new value in the vector, your push_back assigns it.

Depending on the object in the container, its assignment operator and its constructor may have completely different logic, and comparative benchmarks are meaningless.