Using arrays or std::vectors in C++, what's th

Question

In our C++ course they suggest not to use C++ arrays on new projects anymore. As far as I know Stroustroup himself suggests not to use arrays. But are there significant performance differences?

Answer 1

The following simple test:

C++ Array vs Vector performance test explanation

contradicts the conclusions from "Comparison of assembly code generated for basic indexing, dereferencing, and increment operations on vectors and arrays/pointers."

There must be a difference between the arrays and vectors. The test says so... just try it, the code is there...

Answer 2

Preamble for micro-optimizer people

Remember:

"Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%".

(Thanks to metamorphosis for the full quote)

Don't use a C array instead of a vector (or whatever) just because you believe it's faster as it is supposed to be lower-level. You would be wrong.

Use by default vector (or the safe container adapted to your need), and then if your profiler says it is a problem, see if you can optimize it, either by using a better algorithm, or changing container.

This said, we can go back to the original question.

Static/Dynamic Array?

The C++ array classes are better behaved than the low-level C array because they know a lot about themselves, and can answer questions C arrays can't. They are able to clean after themselves. And more importantly, they are usually written using templates and/or inlining, which means that what appears to a lot of code in debug resolves to little or no code produced in release build, meaning no difference with their built-in less safe competition.

All in all, it falls on two categories:

Dynamic arrays

Using a pointer to a malloc-ed/new-ed array will be at best as fast as the std::vector version, and a lot less safe (see litb's post).

So use a std::vector.

Static arrays

Using a static array will be at best:

• as fast as the std::array version
• and a lot less safe.

So use a std::array.

Uninitialized memory

Sometimes, using a vector instead of a raw buffer incurs a visible cost because the vector will initialize the buffer at construction, while the code it replaces didn't, as remarked bernie by in his answer.

If this is the case, then you can handle it by using a unique_ptr instead of a vector or, if the case is not exceptional in your codeline, actually write a class buffer_owner that will own that memory, and give you easy and safe access to it, including bonuses like resizing it (using realloc?), or whatever you need.

Answer 3

Sometimes arrays are indeed better than vectors. If you are always manipulating a fixed length set of objects, arrays are better. Consider the following code snippets:

int main() {
int v[3];
v[0]=1; v[1]=2;v[2]=3;
int sum;
int starttime=time(NULL);
cout << starttime << endl;
for (int i=0;i<50000;i++)
for (int j=0;j<10000;j++) {
X x(v);
sum+=x.first();
}
int endtime=time(NULL);
cout << endtime << endl;
cout << endtime - starttime << endl;

}

where the vector version of X is

class X {
vector<int> vec;
public:
X(const vector<int>& v) {vec = v;}
int first() { return vec[0];}
};

and the array version of X is:

class X {
int f[3];

public:
X(int a[]) {f[0]=a[0]; f[1]=a[1];f[2]=a[2];}
int first() { return f[0];}
};

The array version will of main() will be faster because we are avoiding the overhead of "new" everytime in the inner loop.

(This code was posted to comp.lang.c++ by me).

Answer 4

Vectors use a tiny bit more memory than arrays since they contain the size of the array. They also increase the hard disk size of programs and probably the memory footprint of programs. These increases are tiny, but may matter if you're working with an embedded system. Though most places where these differences matter are places where you would use C rather than C++.

Answer 5

STL is a heavily optimized library. In fact, it's even suggested to use STL in games where high performance might be needed. Arrays are too error prone to be used in day to day tasks. Today's compilers are also very smart and can really produce excellent code with STL. If you know what you are doing, STL can usually provide the necessary performance. For example by initializing vectors to required size (if you know from start), you can basically achieve the array performance. However, there might be cases where you still need arrays. When interfacing with low level code (i.e. assembly) or old libraries that require arrays, you might not be able to use vectors.

Answer 6

There might be some edge case where you have a vector access inside an inline function inside an inline function, where you've gone beyond what the compiler will inline and it will force a function call. That would be so rare as to not be worth worrying about - in general I would agree with litb.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet - don't worry about performance until it has been proven to be a problem, then benchmark.