Why is 2 * (i * i) faster than 2 * i * i in Java?

Question

The following Java program takes on average between 0.50s and 0.55s to run:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    long startTime = System.nanoTime();
    int n = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < 1000000000; i++) {
        n += 2 * (i * i);
    }
    System.out.println((double) (System.nanoTime() - startTime) / 1000000000 + " s");
    System.out.println("n = " + n);
}

If I replace 2 * (i * i) with 2 * i * i, it takes between 0.60 and 0.65s to run. How come?

I ran each version of the program 15 times, alternating between the two. Here are the results:

 2*(i*i)  |  2*i*i
----------+----------
0.5183738 | 0.6246434
0.5298337 | 0.6049722
0.5308647 | 0.6603363
0.5133458 | 0.6243328
0.5003011 | 0.6541802
0.5366181 | 0.6312638
0.515149  | 0.6241105
0.5237389 | 0.627815
0.5249942 | 0.6114252
0.5641624 | 0.6781033
0.538412  | 0.6393969
0.5466744 | 0.6608845
0.531159  | 0.6201077
0.5048032 | 0.6511559
0.5232789 | 0.6544526

The fastest run of 2 * i * i took longer than the slowest run of 2 * (i * i). If they were both as efficient, the probability of this happening would be less than 1/2^15 = 0.00305%.

Answer 1

I got similar results:

2 * (i * i): 0.458765943 s, n=119860736
2 * i * i: 0.580255126 s, n=119860736

I got the SAME results if both loops were in the same program, or each was in a separate .java file/.class, executed on a separate run.

Finally, here is a javap -c -v <.java> decompile of each:

     3: ldc           #3                  // String 2 * (i * i):
     5: invokevirtual #4                  // Method java/io/PrintStream.print:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
     8: invokestatic  #5                  // Method java/lang/System.nanoTime:()J
     8: invokestatic  #5                  // Method java/lang/System.nanoTime:()J
    11: lstore_1
    12: iconst_0
    13: istore_3
    14: iconst_0
    15: istore        4
    17: iload         4
    19: ldc           #6                  // int 1000000000
    21: if_icmpge     40
    24: iload_3
    25: iconst_2
    26: iload         4
    28: iload         4
    30: imul
    31: imul
    32: iadd
    33: istore_3
    34: iinc          4, 1
    37: goto          17

vs.

     3: ldc           #3                  // String 2 * i * i:
     5: invokevirtual #4                  // Method java/io/PrintStream.print:(Ljava/lang/String;)V
     8: invokestatic  #5                  // Method java/lang/System.nanoTime:()J
    11: lstore_1
    12: iconst_0
    13: istore_3
    14: iconst_0
    15: istore        4
    17: iload         4
    19: ldc           #6                  // int 1000000000
    21: if_icmpge     40
    24: iload_3
    25: iconst_2
    26: iload         4
    28: imul
    29: iload         4
    31: imul
    32: iadd
    33: istore_3
    34: iinc          4, 1
    37: goto          17

FYI -

java -version
java version "1.8.0_121"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_121-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.121-b13, mixed mode)

Answer 2

Kasperd asked in a comment of the accepted answer:

The Java and C examples use quite different register names. Are both example using the AMD64 ISA?

xor edx, edx
xor eax, eax
.L2:
mov ecx, edx
imul ecx, edx
add edx, 1
lea eax, [rax+rcx*2]
cmp edx, 1000000000
jne .L2

I don't have enough reputation to answer this in the comments, but these are the same ISA. It's worth pointing out that the GCC version uses 32-bit integer logic and the JVM compiled version uses 64-bit integer logic internally.

R8 to R15 are just new X86_64 registers. EAX to EDX are the lower parts of the RAX to RDX general purpose registers. The important part in the answer is that the GCC version is not unrolled. It simply executes one round of the loop per actual machine code loop. While the JVM version has 16 rounds of the loop in one physical loop (based on rustyx answer, I did not reinterpret the assembly). This is one of the reasons why there are more registers being used since the loop body is actually 16 times longer.

Answer 3

I tried a JMH using the default archetype: I also added optimized version based Runemoro' explanation .

@State(Scope.Benchmark)
@Warmup(iterations = 2)
@Fork(1)
@Measurement(iterations = 10)
@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS)
//@BenchmarkMode({ Mode.All })
@BenchmarkMode(Mode.AverageTime)
public class MyBenchmark {
  @Param({ "100", "1000", "1000000000" })
  private int size;

  @Benchmark
  public int two_square_i() {
    int n = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
      n += 2 * (i * i);
    }
    return n;
  }

  @Benchmark
  public int square_i_two() {
    int n = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
      n += i * i;
    }
    return 2*n;
  }  

  @Benchmark
  public int two_i_() {
    int n = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
      n += 2 * i * i;
    }
    return n;
  }
}

The result are here:

Benchmark                           (size)  Mode  Samples          Score   Score error  Units
o.s.MyBenchmark.square_i_two           100  avgt       10         58,062         1,410  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.square_i_two          1000  avgt       10        547,393        12,851  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.square_i_two    1000000000  avgt       10  540343681,267  16795210,324  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.two_i_                 100  avgt       10         87,491         2,004  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.two_i_                1000  avgt       10       1015,388        30,313  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.two_i_          1000000000  avgt       10  967100076,600  24929570,556  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.two_square_i           100  avgt       10         70,715         2,107  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.two_square_i          1000  avgt       10        686,977        24,613  ns/op
o.s.MyBenchmark.two_square_i    1000000000  avgt       10  652736811,450  27015580,488  ns/op

On my PC (Core i7 860, doing nothing much apart reading on my smartphone):

• n += i*i then n*2 is first
• 2 * (i * i) is second.

The JVM is clearly not optimizing the same way than a human does (based on Runemoro answer).

Now then, reading bytecode: javap -c -v ./target/classes/org/sample/MyBenchmark.class

• Differences between 2*(i*i) (left) and 2*i*i (right) here: https://www.diffchecker.com/cvSFppWI
• Differences between 2*(i*i) and the optimized version here: https://www.diffchecker.com/I1XFu5dP

I am not expert on bytecode but we iload_2 before we imul: that's probably where you get the difference: I can suppose that the JVM optimize reading i twice (i is already here, there is no need to load it again) whilst in the 2*i*i it can't.

Answer 4

Interesting observation using Java 11 and switching off loop unrolling with the following VM option:

-XX:LoopUnrollLimit=0

The loop with the 2 * (i * i) expression results in a more compact native code¹:

L0001: add    eax,r11d
       inc    r8d
       mov    r11d,r8d
       imul   r11d,r8d
       shl    r11d,1h
       cmp    r8d,r10d
       jl     L0001

in comparison with the 2 * i * i version:

L0001: add    eax,r11d
       mov    r11d,r8d
       shl    r11d,1h
       add    r11d,2h
       inc    r8d
       imul   r11d,r8d
       cmp    r8d,r10d
       jl     L0001

Java version:

java version "11" 2018-09-25
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment 18.9 (build 11+28)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 18.9 (build 11+28, mixed mode)

Benchmark results:

Benchmark          (size)  Mode  Cnt    Score     Error  Units
LoopTest.fast  1000000000  avgt    5  694,868 ±  36,470  ms/op
LoopTest.slow  1000000000  avgt    5  769,840 ± 135,006  ms/op

Benchmark source code:

@BenchmarkMode(Mode.AverageTime)
@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
@Warmup(iterations = 5, time = 5, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS)
@Measurement(iterations = 5, time = 5, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS)
@State(Scope.Thread)
@Fork(1)
public class LoopTest {

    @Param("1000000000") private int size;

    public static void main(String[] args) throws RunnerException {
        Options opt =
            new OptionsBuilder().include(LoopTest.class.getSimpleName())
                                .jvmArgs("-XX:LoopUnrollLimit=0")
                                .build();
        new Runner(opt).run();
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int slow() {
        int n = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
            n += 2 * i * i;
        }
        return n;
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int fast() {
        int n = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
            n += 2 * (i * i);
        }
        return n;
    }
}

---

^{1 - VM options used: -XX:+UnlockDiagnosticVMOptions -XX:+PrintAssembly -XX:LoopUnrollLimit=0}