Have Your Efficiency, and Flexibility Too Metaprogramming Techniques For No-Compromise Code by Nick Sabalausky Full source code for this article is available on GitHub, or can be downloaded here. View this article on a Single Page or Multiple Pages Table of Contents: Have Your Efficiency, and Flexibility Too First Attempt: Send Efficiency and Flexibility to Dr. Oop's Couples Therapy Respecting the Classics: Old-School Handcrafting Success at Dr. Metaprogramming's Clinic It Walks Like a Duck and Quacks Like a Duck...Kill It! Metaprogramming Plus: The Flexibility Enhancements Method #1: Compile-Time Function Execution

Method #2: Compiling at Runtime

Method #3: Convert a Runtime Value to Compile-Time

Method #4: Dynamic Fallback The Last Remaining Elephant In The Room: Runtime Conversion Conversion Downsides And Possible Fixes Hold It, Gizmo! Quit Squirming Around! Hey Data, Get Back Here!

Curtain Call Have Your Efficiency, and Flexibility Too Efficiency and flexibility are programming's classic odd couple. Both are undeniably useful, but they never seem to get along. You try to improve one, and the other just balks and storms off. Prima donna! That might be fine for some scenes, but often you can't get by with only one: It breaks the whole dynamic! Just look how the efficiency and flexibility knuckleheads bicker in even the simplest situations. This example is written in the D programming language, but it's the same sad old story in any language: From ex1_original.d: struct Gizmo { this(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { if(numPorts < 1) throw new Exception("A portless Gizmo is useless!"); ports.length = numPorts; _isSpinnable = isSpinnable; } private OutputPort[] ports; @property int numPorts() { return ports.length; } void doStuff() { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } private bool _isSpinnable; @property int isSpinnable() { return _isSpinnable; } int spinCount; void spin() { if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } } Ok, so I guess the fighting between efficiency and flexibility isn't so obvious at a glance. They're making some ordinary-looking Gizmos and nothing seems immediately wrong. There's no fists flying, no colorful primetime-banned language, no headlocks or piledrivers. But you have to look closer: it's passive-aggression. And experts say that's psychologically-damaging, right? Normally, code like that would be fine, so what's the problem? Well, we don't just have two or three Gizmos collecting dust until a rare special occasion when we decide to pull one out to use it. Oh, no. Gizmos are the main component in the real product: the UltraGiz. The UltraGiz is made of thousands of Gizmos of all different types, and it really gives those Gizmos a big workout. Plus, each port-zapping is fairly quick. The real expense comes from how many port-zaps occur. So even a small improvement to the Gizmo's size and speed will add up to a big improvement in the UltraGiz. And since many different types of Gizmos are needed, we know we need both efficiency and flexibility. What flexibility is needed? For one, some Gizmos need to spin, and some don't. But every Gizmo is paying the price for that flexibility: There's always that spinCount variable, even for ones that don't spin. And they all have to take the time to check the isSpinnable variable. Heck, each Gizmo even has to use storage space just to know whether it's spinnable or not. They're not just stamped on the side with "spinny" or "no spinny". And then there's the output ports. Every time any Gizmo is called upon to do its stuff, it has to check how many ports there are, zap the first one, increment some internal value, check if its done, zap the next one, etc. That's necessary for a few of the Gizmos, but most Gizmos only have one or two ports. Why can't they just zap their one or two ports and be done with it? Most Gizmos have no need for that extra overhead. Ultimately, the problem boils down to all that flexibility coming from runtime variables. Since the flexibility happens at runtime, the compiler can't usually optimize away the speed issues. And since all the Gizmos are the same type, struct Gizmo, the compiler can't optimize the space issues either. Let's see how the Gizmos currently perform. I'll use this test program to simulate an UltraGiz and time it: From ex1_original.d: struct OutputPort { int numZaps; void zap() { numZaps++; } } struct UltraGiz { Gizmo[] gizmos; int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; private void useGizmo(ref Gizmo gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos.length = 50_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) gizmos[i] = Gizmo(1, false); foreach(i; 10_000..20_000) gizmos[i] = Gizmo(1, true ); foreach(i; 20_000..30_000) gizmos[i] = Gizmo(2, false); foreach(i; 30_000..40_000) gizmos[i] = Gizmo(2, true ); foreach(i; 40_000..45_000) gizmos[i] = Gizmo(5, false); foreach(i; 45_000..50_000) gizmos[i] = Gizmo(5, true ); foreach(i; 0..10_000) foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos) useGizmo(gizmo); writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } void main() { UltraGiz ultra; ultra.run(); } On my 1.7 Ghz Celeron (Yes, I know that's old, please don't flame me!), compiling with DMD in release mode with optimizations and inlining on, my result is 21 seconds. My system's task manager tells me it used 10.4 MB of RAM. Hmm, even on my old hardware, that could really be better. Flexibility is really starting to push his co-star's buttons. Efficiency is even getting ready to take a swing at Flexibility. Uh, oh! At this point, many people just decide to prioritize either efficiency or flexibility. Often, this comes with reasons like "Hardware just keeps getting faster" or "This is built for speed, those who need flexibility can use a slower alternative." I've never liked to compromise, and I think we can do better. So let's see if we can diffuse this odd couple's situation before it turns into an all-out brawl (and they consequently loose their lucrative time-slot due to prime-time decency standards). First Attempt: Send Efficiency and Flexibility to Dr. Oop's Couples Therapy Dr. Oop has had much success helping many couples overcome their differences. He's often the go-to guy for many programming difficulties, and for very good reason. After listening to our protagonists' story, he prescribes interfaces and subclassing. To avoid any need for multiple inheritance or code duplication (both are known to have problems), he'll also add in a touch of composition. From ex2_objectOriented.d: interface ISpinner { @property bool isSpinnable(); void spin(); } final class SpinnerStub : ISpinner { @property bool isSpinnable() { return false; } void spin() { } } final class Spinner : ISpinner { @property bool isSpinnable() { return true; } int spinCount; void spin() { spinCount++; } } abstract class Gizmo { this() { spinner = createSpinner(); } @property int numPorts(); void doStuff(); ISpinner spinner; ISpinner createSpinner(); } class OnePortGizmo : Gizmo { override ISpinner createSpinner() { return new SpinnerStub(); } private OutputPort[1] ports; override @property int numPorts() { return 1; } override void doStuff() { ports[0].zap(); } } class TwoPortGizmo : Gizmo { override ISpinner createSpinner() { return new SpinnerStub(); } private OutputPort[2] ports; override @property int numPorts() { return 2; } override void doStuff() { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } } class MultiPortGizmo : Gizmo { this(int numPorts) { if(numPorts < 1) throw new Exception("A portless Gizmo is useless!"); if(numPorts == 1 || numPorts == 2) throw new Exception("Wrong type of Gizmo!"); ports.length = numPorts; } override ISpinner createSpinner() { return new SpinnerStub(); } private OutputPort[] ports; override @property int numPorts() { return ports.length; } override void doStuff() { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } final class SpinnyOnePortGizmo : OnePortGizmo { override ISpinner createSpinner() { return new Spinner(); } } final class SpinnyTwoPortGizmo : TwoPortGizmo { override ISpinner createSpinner() { return new Spinner(); } } final class SpinnyMultiPortGizmo : MultiPortGizmo { this(int numPorts) { super(numPorts); } override ISpinner createSpinner() { return new Spinner(); } } Oh dear God, what have we done?! Blech! Ok, calm down...Deep breaths now...Stay with me...Breathe...Breathe...Maybe it's not as bad as it seems. Maybe it'll be worth it. After all, it's technically flexible. Not pretty, but flexible. Maybe the efficiency will be good enough to make it a worthwhile compromise. Let's see... The code to test this version is almost the same as before so I won't show it here. But you can view it in ex2_objectOriented.d if you'd like. On my system, this takes 40 seconds and 11.3 MB. That's nearly twice the time and 10% more memory as before. Hmm, uhh...nope, no good. Well, that was a bust. So what went wrong? The problem is, object orientation involves some overhead. Polymorphism requires each instance of any Gizmo type to store some extra hidden data, which not only increases memory usage but also allows fewer Gizmos to fit into the cache. Polymorphism also means an extra indirection when calling a member function. This extra indirection can only sometimes be optimized away. Each Gizmo needs to be individually allocated (although it's possible to get around that in certain languages, including D, but it's still yet another thing to do). The by-reference nature of objects means the Gizmo arrays only contain pointers. Not only does that mean greater memory usage, but it can also decrease data locality (how "close together" related data is in memory) which leads to more cache misses. Using composition for the spin capability also decreased data locality, increased indirection, and increased memory usage. All things considered, we wound up doing the exact opposite of what we tried to do: Our attempts to decrease time and memory increased them instead, and also gave us less maintainable code. In many cases, the overhead of object orientation isn't really a big problem, so object orientation can be a very useful tool (although perhaps not so much in this case). But in highly performance-sensitive sections, the overhead can definitely add up and cause trouble. So for all the successes Dr. Oop has had, efficiency and flexibility are just too strongly opposed. Flexibility is left unhappy with the complexity required, and poor efficiency nearly had a heart attack! This time, Dr. Oop's solution just isn't quite what the patients has been hoping for. Oops, indeed. Programmers familiar with templated classes might be annoyed at this point that I've rejected the object oriented approach without considering the use of template classes. Those familiar with D are likely screaming at me, "Mixins! Mixins!" And then there's C++'s preprocessor, too. Well, frankly, I agree. Such things can certainly improve an object oriented design. But those are all forms of metaprogramming, which I haven't gotten to just yet. Besides, the main point I want to get across is this: Object orientation isn't a general substitute for metaprogramming and does have limitations in how well it can marry efficiency with flexibility. Respecting the Classics: Old-School Handcrafting Object orientation may not have worked out well for efficiency, but efficient code has been around since long before objects became popular. How did they do it back then? With good old-fashioned handcrafting, of course. Time for Efficiency and Flexibility to pay a visit to the town elder... After the elder introduces himself, Efficiency and Flexibility ask him to have a look at their problem. "Eh? You want I should look at your problem?"

"Yes, we'd like you to help us out."

"Help on your problem right? You want I should look at?"

"Umm...yes..."

"Ok...Hi! I'm the town elder!" Clearly this guy has a problem repeating himself. But eventually he pulls out his trusty oak-finished toolchain and gets to work. After what seems like an eternity later, he's done: From ex3_handcrafted.d: struct OnePortGizmo { static immutable isSpinnable = false; static immutable numPorts = 1; private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { ports[0].zap(); } void spin() { } } struct TwoPortGizmo { static immutable isSpinnable = false; static immutable numPorts = 2; private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } void spin() { } } struct MultiPortGizmo { this(int numPorts) { if(numPorts < 1) throw new Exception("A portless Gizmo is useless!"); if(numPorts == 1 || numPorts == 2) throw new Exception("Wrong type of Gizmo!"); ports.length = numPorts; } static immutable isSpinnable = false; private OutputPort[] ports; @property int numPorts() { return ports.length; } void doStuff() { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } void spin() { } } struct SpinnyOnePortGizmo { static immutable isSpinnable = true; static immutable numPorts = 1; private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { ports[0].zap(); } int spinCount; void spin() { spinCount++; } } struct SpinnyTwoPortGizmo { static immutable isSpinnable = true; static immutable numPorts = 2; private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } int spinCount; void spin() { spinCount++; } } struct SpinnyMultiPortGizmo { this(int numPorts) { if(numPorts < 1) throw new Exception("A portless Gizmo is useless!"); if(numPorts == 1 || numPorts == 2) throw new Exception("Wrong type of Gizmo!"); ports.length = numPorts; } static immutable isSpinnable = true; private OutputPort[] ports; @property int numPorts() { return ports.length; } void doStuff() { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } int spinCount; void spin() { spinCount++; } } It certainly matches the old man's speech patterns, but just look at the careful attention to detail and workmanship! Two handmade single-port Gizmos, one spinny and one not. Two handmade double-port Gizmos. And even a couple general-purpose multi-port jobs. Let's take 'er for a...ahem...a spin... On my system, that clocks in at 10.5 seconds and 9.4 MB. Hey, not bad! That's definitely an improvement over the original. It's twice as fast, and uses about 10% less memory. The old guy's a bit eccentric, and his methods may be a bit out of date, but he really knows his stuff. Too bad the approach is too meticulous and error-prone to be useful for the rest of us mere mortals. Or for those of us working on modern large-scale high-complexity software. I should point out that since the Gizmos are now separate types, with no common base type, they can no longer be stored all in one array. But that's not a big problem, we can just keep a separate array for each type. No big deal. And if we wanted, we could create a struct GizmoGroup that kept arrays of all the different gizmo types in a convenient little package. The town elder didn't actually make such a struct, but in any case, here's the updated UltraGiz: From ex3_handcrafted.d: struct UltraGiz { OnePortGizmo[] gizmosA; SpinnyOnePortGizmo[] gizmosB; TwoPortGizmo[] gizmosC; SpinnyTwoPortGizmo[] gizmosD; MultiPortGizmo[] gizmosE; SpinnyMultiPortGizmo[] gizmosF; int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmosA.length = 10_000; gizmosB.length = 10_000; gizmosC.length = 10_000; gizmosD.length = 10_000; gizmosE.length = 5_000; gizmosF.length = 5_000; foreach(i; 0..gizmosE.length) gizmosE[i] = MultiPortGizmo(5); foreach(i; 0..gizmosF.length) gizmosF[i] = SpinnyMultiPortGizmo(5); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmosA) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmosB) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmosC) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmosD) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmosE) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmosF) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } In reality, specially handcrafting only-slightly-different versions is such a meticulous, repetitive maintenance nightmare that you'd normally only make one or two specially-tweaked versions, and leave the rest of the cases up to a general-purpose version. And even that can be a pain. So as happy as efficiency may be, flexibility is storming out of the room. We're getting close, but haven't succeeded yet. What we need is a better twist on this handcrafting approach... Success at Dr. Metaprogramming's Clinic Dr. Metaprogramming listens to the story, pauses for a second, and replies, "Turn your runtime options into compile-time options." Say what? The metaprogramming doc takes the original problem, moves numPorts and isSpinnable up to the struct Gizmo line, makes just a few small changes, and: From ex4_metaprogramming.d: struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; static if(numPorts < 1) static assert(false, "A portless Gizmo is useless!"); private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { static if(numPorts == 1) ports[0].zap(); else static if(numPorts == 2) { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } else { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } static if(isSpinnable) int spinCount; void spin() { static if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } } Dr. Metaprogramming points out, "As an added bonus, trying to make a portless Gizmo is now caught at compile-time instead of runtime." Efficiency whines, "Look at all those ifs!" The doc explains that those aren't real ifs, they're static if. They only run at compile-time. Efficiency responds, "Oh, ok. So you're really making many different types, right? Isn't there an overhead for that, like with polymorphism?" The doc says it does make many different types, but there's no runtime polymorphism (just compile-time) and no overhead. Efficiency smiles. Seeing Efficiency happy makes Flexibility concerned. Flexibility balks, "We occasionally require some logic to determine a Gizmo's number of ports and spinnability, so I doubt we can do this." The doc assures him that D can run many ordinary functions at compile-time. And in other languages, code can just be generated as a separate step before compiling, or a preprocessor can be used. He adds that even if runtime logic really is needed, there are ways to do that, too. He'll demonstrate all of this shortly. Flexibility smiles. The code to test this is still very similar to all the other versions. But since this is the first metaprogramming version, I'll show the new Gizmo-testing code here: From ex4_metaprogramming.d: struct OutputPort { int numZaps; void zap() { numZaps++; } } struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(5, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(5, true ).length = 5_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } void main() { UltraGiz ultra; ultra.run(); } One of the important things to note here is that the function useGizmo() is templated to accept any type. This is necessary since there are multiple Gizmo types instead of just one, and also because the Gizmos are structs instead of classes and therefore don't have a common base type. So effectively, there is now a separate useGizmo() function for each Gizmo type (although a smart linker might combine identical versions of useGizmo() behind-the-scenes). In the next section, I'll get back to the matter of this function being templated, but for now, just take note of it. Also, note that the arrays gizmosA, gizmosB, etc. were replaced by a templated array. This is just like the separate arrays from ex3_handcrafted.d, but it gives us a better way to refer to them. For example, we now say gizmos!(2, false) instead of gizmosC. This may seem to be of questionable benefit, especially since we could have just named it gizmos2NoSpinny. But it will come in handy in the later metaprogramming versions since it lets us use arbitrary compile-time values to specify the two parameters. That gives us more metaprogramming power. But that will come later. This version gives me 10.1 seconds and 9.2 MB. That's just as sleek and slim as the handcrafted version and...wait no...huh? It's slightly better? Granted, it's not by much, but what's going on? It may seem strange that generic code could be more efficient than a specially handcrafted non-generic version. But at least part of what's happening is that with metaprogramming, the compiler is essentially doing your handcrafting automatically as needed. Remember, in the real handcrafted version, the town elder only handcrafted one-port and two-port versions. For everything else, he had to fallback to the original strategy of dealing with a variable number of ports at runtime. With the metaprogramming version, on the other hand, the compiler automatically "handcrafted" a special five-port version when we asked for five ports. If we had also asked for three-port and seven-port versions, it would have automatically "handcrafted" those as well. It's possible to create and maintain all those special version manually, but it would be highly impractical. If you really do want a single type for general multi-port Gizmos, just like the town elder's handcrafted version, that's certainly possible with metaprogramming, too. In fact, we'll get to that later. Of course, I don't mean to imply that handcrafted optimization is obsolete. There are always optimizations a compiler won't be able to do. But when your optimization involves creating alternate versions of the same thing, metaprogramming makes it quick and easy to apply the same technique on as many different versions as you want without hindering maintainability. I've alluded to a number of flexibility enhancements that can be made to this metaprogramming version. I'll explain these as promised, but there's one other enhancement I'd like to cover first: It Walks Like a Duck and Quacks Like a Duck...Kill It! Duck typing is a topic that divides programmers almost as much as tabs-vs-spaces or vi-vs-emacs. While I admit I'm personally on the anti-duck side of the pond, I'm not going to preach it here. I only bring it up because there are other anti-duckers out there, and for them, there's something about the metaprogramming example they may not be happy with. But there is a solution. If you are a duck fan, please pardon this section's title and feel free to skip ahead. I promise not to say anything about you behind your back... Remember in the last section I pointed out the useGizmo() function was templated so it could accept all the various Gizmo types? Well, what happens when we pass it something that isn't a Gizmo? For most types, the compiler will just complain that doStuff(), spin, isSpinnable, and numPorts don't exist for the type. But what if it's a type that just happens to look like a Gizmo? From snippet_notAGizmo.d: struct BoatDock_NotAGizmo { int numPorts; void doStuff() { manageBoatTraffic(); } bool isSpinnable; void spin() { blastTheCrittersAway(); } } The templated useGizmo() function will happily accept that. Hmm, accepting a type based on its members rather than its declared name, what does that remind you of...? Yup, duck typing. Granted, it's not exactly the same as the usual duck typing popularized by dynamic languages. It's more like a compile-time variation of it. But it still has the same basic effect: If something looks like a Gizmo, it will be treated as a Gizmo whether it was intended to be or not. Whether or not that's acceptable is a matter for The Great Duck Debate, but for those who dislike duck typing, it's possible to kill the duck with metaprogramming and constraints. This is almost identical to ex4_metaprogramming.d, but with a few changes and additions that I've highlighted: From ex5_meta_deadDuck1.d: template isIGizmo(T) { immutable bool isIGizmo = __traits(compiles, (){ T t; static assert(T._this_implements_interface_IGizmo_); int n = t.numPorts; static if(T.isSpinnable) int s = t.spinCount; t.doStuff(); t.spin(); } ); } struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; static enum _this_implements_interface_IGizmo_ = true; static assert( isIGizmo!(Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)), "This type fails to implement IGizmo" ); static if(numPorts < 1) static assert(false, "A portless Gizmo is useless!"); private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { static if(numPorts == 1) ports[0].zap(); else static if(numPorts == 2) { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } else { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } static if(isSpinnable) int spinCount; void spin() { static if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } } struct OutputPort { int numZaps; void zap() { numZaps++; } } struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; static if(numPorts < 1) static assert(false, "A portless Gizmo is useless!"); private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { static if(numPorts == 1) ports[0].zap(); else static if(numPorts == 2) { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } else { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } static if(isSpinnable) int spinCount; void spin() { static if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } } struct OutputPort { int numZaps; void zap() { numZaps++; } } struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) if(isIGizmo!T) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(5, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(5, true ).length = 5_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(5, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(5, true ).length = 5_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } Those experienced with the D programming language may notice this is very similar to the way D's ranges are created and used, but with the added twist that a type must actually declare itself to be compatible with a certain interface. Now, if you try to pass a boat dock to useGizmo(), it won't work because the boat dock hasn't been declared to implement the IGizmo interface. Instead, you'll just get a compiler error saying there's no useGizmo() overload that can accept a boat dock. As an extra bonus, if you change Gizmo and accidentally break it's IGizmo interface (for instance, by deleting the doStuff() function), you'll get a better error message than before. Best of all, these changes have no impact on speed or memory since it all happens at compile-time. Under the latest version of DMD at the time of this writing (DMD v2.053), if you break Gizmo's IGizmo interface, this is the error message you'll get: ex5_meta_deadDuck1.d(44): Error: static assert "This type fails to implement IGizmo" ex5_meta_deadDuck1.d(92): instantiated from here: Gizmo!(numPorts,isSpinnable) ex5_meta_deadDuck1.d(116): instantiated from here: gizmos!(1,false) So it plainly tells you what type failed to implement what interface. In a language like D that supports compile-time reflection, it's also possible to design the IGizmo interface so the error message will state which part of the interface wasn't implemented. But the specifics of that are beyond the scope of this article (That's author-speak for "I ain't gonna write it.") This is great, but announcing and verifying these dead-duck interfaces can be better generalized. Changes from ex5_meta_deadDuck1.d are highlighted: From ex5_meta_deadDuck2.d: string declareInterface(string interfaceName, string thisType) { return ` static enum _this_implements_interface_`~interfaceName~`_ = true; static assert( is`~interfaceName~`!(`~thisType~`), "This type fails to implement `~interfaceName~`" ); `; } struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; mixin(declareInterface("IGizmo", "Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)")); static if(numPorts < 1) static assert(false, "A portless Gizmo is useless!"); private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { static if(numPorts == 1) ports[0].zap(); else static if(numPorts == 2) { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } else { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } static if(isSpinnable) int spinCount; void spin() { static if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } } static if(numPorts < 1) static assert(false, "A portless Gizmo is useless!"); private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { static if(numPorts == 1) ports[0].zap(); else static if(numPorts == 2) { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } else { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } static if(isSpinnable) int spinCount; void spin() { static if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } } If you ever want to create another type that also counts as an IGizmo, all you have to do is add the declaration line: From snippet_anotherGizmo.d: struct AnotherGizmo { mixin(declareInterface("IGizmo", "AnotherGizmo")); } Now isIGizmo will accept any AnotherGizmo, too. And just like a real class-based interface, if you forget to implement part of IGizmo, the compiler will tell you. There are many further improvements that can be made to declareInterface(). For instance, although it's currently using a string mixin, it could be improved by taking advantage of D's template mixin feature. It could also be made to detect the name of your type so you only have to specify "IGizmo", and not "AnotherGizmo". But this at least demonstrates the basic principle. For the sake of simplicity, the rest of the examples in this article will forgo the anti-duck typing techniques covered in this section. Of course, none of this is needed if you're only using classes, which can truly inherit from one another. In that case, you can just use real inheritance-based interfaces. But if you want to avoid the overhead of classes, you can use these metaprogramming tricks to achieve much of the same flexibility. Metaprogramming Plus: The Flexibility Enhancements If you recall from earlier, Flexibility was concerned that the metaprogramming approach seemed to prevent complex configurability. He didn't think he could use complex logic to decide what types of Gizmos needed to be made and how many. The problem is that Gizmo's settings are specified at compile-time, but the logic to determine the configuration may need to happen at runtime. Dr. Metaprogramming knew that could be worked around and promised to show various methods of handing this. These methods will be demonstrated by making two basic changes to the existing metaprogramming example: Currently, there are 1-port, 2-port and 5-port Gizmos. The 5-port ones will no longer be hardcoded as 5-port. The number of ports on these larger Gizmos will now be configurable via bigPorts . Only 2,000 spinnable 2-port Gizmos will be made instead of 10,000. But 8,000 extra Gimos will be created. The type of these extra Gizmos will be configurable via extrasNumPorts and extrasIsSpinnable . Naturally, if you want to compare the time and memory usage with all the previous versions, then these values should be set to bigPorts = 5, extrasNumPorts = 2 and extrasIsSpinnable = true. Note that none of these require any changes to the Gizmo type itself. Only the code in UltraGiz and main() is affected. That is to say, the only changes are in setting up and using the same Gizmo types that we've already written. Method #1: Compile-Time Function Execution Frequently abbreviated as CTFE, this method can't be done in all languages. And in a language that does support it (like D) it can be the least powerful method. But it's the simplest and easiest, and is perfectly sufficient in many situations. All that needs to be done is assign the return value of a function to a compile-time value. The compiler will execute the function itself (if it can) instead of waiting until runtime. Simple. Changes from ex4_metaprogramming.d are highlighted: From ex6_meta_flex1_ctfe.d: struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } static int generateBigPorts() { int num=0; for(int i=0; i<10; i++) { if(i >= 5) num++; } return num; } static int generateExtrasNumPorts(int input) { return input - 3; } static bool generateExtrasIsSpinnable(int input=9) { if(input == 0) return false; return !generateExtrasIsSpinnable(input-1); } static immutable bigPort = generateBigPorts(); static immutable extrasNumPorts = generateExtrasNumPorts(bigPort); static immutable extrasIsSpinnable = generateExtrasIsSpinnable(); void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 2_000; gizmos!(bigPort, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(bigPort, true ).length = 5_000; gizmos!(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable).length += 8_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(bigPort, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(bigPort, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } void main() { UltraGiz ultra; ultra.run(); } } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } void main() { UltraGiz ultra; ultra.run(); } Method #2: Compiling at Runtime On the downside, this method takes extra time (potentially very noticeable) whenever a setting needs to be changed. That may or may not be a problem depending on the nature of the program and the setting. Also, you'll need to distribute your configurable source code along with your program. Finally, this method requires either: The user has the appropriate compiler set up. You package the compiler along with your application. Note that rules out using this method for most embedded targets. So ok, maybe this doesn't sound very good so far. However, this method is extremely powerful, viable for a wide variety of languages, and only requires very simple changes to the code being configured. Additionally, the compiler requirement may not be as much of a problem as it may seem if you have permission to redistribute the compiler, or if you're targeting Linux (which generally has pretty good package management and dependency tools), or if your program is only intended for private use. The trick here is to generate a small amount of source code at runtime, recompile your program, and then run the result. For simplicity, this example will use a separate "frontend" program that will configure, compile and run the real example program. But you could also have it all in one program: After your program issues the command to recompile itself, it would then relaunch itself (possibly saving and restoring any important state in the process) much like auto-updating programs that download and launch newer versions of themselves would do. Or, you could keep the configurable routines in a DLL or .so, unload the DLL or .so, recompile it, and then reload it. From ex6_meta_flex2_frontend.d, the frontend program: import std.conv; import std.file; import std.process; import std.stdio; void main(string[] args) { immutable configFile = "ex6_meta_flex2_config.d"; immutable mainProgram = "ex6_meta_flex2_compilingAtRuntime"; immutable mainProgramSrc = "ex6_meta_flex2_compilingAtRuntime.d"; version(Windows) immutable exeSuffix = ".exe"; else immutable exeSuffix = ""; int bigPort; int extrasNumPorts; bool extrasIsSpinnable; try { bigPort = to!int (args[1]); extrasNumPorts = to!int (args[2]); extrasIsSpinnable = to!bool(args[3]); } catch(Throwable e) { writeln("Usage:"); writeln(" ex6_meta_flex2_frontend "~ "{bigPort} {extrasNumPorts} {extrasIsSpinnable}"); writeln("Example: ex6_meta_flex2_frontend 5 2 true"); return; } auto configContent = ` immutable conf_bigPort = `~to!string(bigPort)~`; immutable conf_extrasNumPorts = `~to!string(extrasNumPorts)~`; immutable conf_extrasIsSpinnable = `~to!string(extrasIsSpinnable)~`; `; writefln("Checking \t%s...", configFile); string oldContent; if(exists(configFile)) oldContent = cast(string)std.file.read(configFile); bool configChanged = false; if(configContent != oldContent) { writefln("Saving \t%s...", configFile); std.file.write(configFile, configContent); configChanged = true; } if(configChanged || !exists(mainProgram~exeSuffix)) { writefln("Compiling \t%s...", mainProgramSrc); system("dmd "~mainProgramSrc~" -release -inline -O -J."); } writefln("Running \t%s...", mainProgram); version(Windows) system(mainProgram); else system("./"~mainProgram); } And the main program, with changes from ex4_metaprogramming.d highlighted: From ex6_meta_flex2_compilingAtRuntime.d, the main program: struct UltraGiz(int bigPort, int extrasNumPorts, bool extrasIsSpinnable) { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 2_000; gizmos!(bigPort, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(bigPort, true ).length = 5_000; gizmos!(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable).length += 8_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(bigPort, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(bigPort, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } void main() { } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } void main() { mixin(import("ex6_meta_flex2_config.d")); UltraGiz!(conf_bigPort, conf_extrasNumPorts, conf_extrasIsSpinnable) ultra; ultra.run(); } ultra.run(); } Method #3: Convert a Runtime Value to Compile-Time Yes, you read that right. Though it may sound bizarre, like it would require time-travel, it is possible to convert a runtime value to compile-time. Although, it does have some restrictions: The runtime value can't cause anything to happen differently at compile-time. Which is to be expected, since runtime occurs after compile-time. But the runtime value can "pass-through" the compile-time code paths and result in other runtime effects. Every possible value that the variable might hold must be individually handled. What essentially happens is you take all the compile-time code paths you may want to trigger at runtime, and you trigger all of them at compile-time. Each one of them will produce a result that can be accessed at runtime. Then, at runtime, you just "choose your effect". If you don't understand that, don't worry. It's really a much simpler, more obvious concept than it sounds. Here's a simple example: From example_runtimeToCompileTime.d: import std.conv; import std.stdio; class Foo(int compileTimeValue) { static immutable theCompileTimeValue = compileTimeValue; static int count = 0; this() { count++; } static void display() { writefln("Foo!(%s).count == %s", theCompileTimeValue, count); } } void main(string[] args) { foreach(arg; args[1..$]) { int runtimeValue = to!int(arg); switch(runtimeValue) { case 0: new Foo!0(); break; case 1: new Foo!1(); break; case 2: new Foo!2(); break; case 3: new Foo!3(); break; case 10: new Foo!10(); break; case 99: new Foo!99(); break; default: throw new Exception(text("Value ",runtimeValue," not supported.")); } } Foo!( 0).display(); Foo!( 1).display(); Foo!( 2).display(); Foo!( 3).display(); Foo!(10).display(); Foo!(99).display(); } Of course, given the repetition in there, metaprogramming can be used to automatically generate the code to handle large numbers of possible values. Or even the entire range of certain types, such as enum, bool, byte or maybe even a 16-bit value. A 32-bit value would be unrealistic on modern hardware, though. And arbitrary strings would be out of the question unless you limited them to a predetermined set of strings, or to a couple bytes in length (or more if you limited the allowable characters). But even with these limitations, this can still be a useful technique. In any case, the fact remains: With certain restrictions, it is possible to convert a runtime value into a compile-time value. Here's how it can be applied to our Gizmo example (as usual, changes from ex4_metaprogramming.d are highlighted): From ex6_meta_flex3_runtimeToCompileTime1.d: struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void addGizmosTo(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable)(int numGizmos) { gizmos!(numPorts, isSpinnable).length += numGizmos; } void addGizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable, int numGizmos) { if(numPorts == 1) { if(isSpinnable) addGizmosTo!(1, true )(numGizmos); else addGizmosTo!(1, false)(numGizmos); } else if(numPorts == 2) { if(isSpinnable) addGizmosTo!(2, true )(numGizmos); else addGizmosTo!(2, false)(numGizmos); } else if(numPorts == 3) { if(isSpinnable) addGizmosTo!(3, true )(numGizmos); else addGizmosTo!(3, false)(numGizmos); } else if(numPorts == 5) { if(isSpinnable) addGizmosTo!(5, true )(numGizmos); else addGizmosTo!(5, false)(numGizmos); } else if(numPorts == 10) { if(isSpinnable) addGizmosTo!(10, true )(numGizmos); else addGizmosTo!(10, false)(numGizmos); } else throw new Exception(to!string(numPorts)~"-port Gizmo not supported."); } void run(int bigPort)(int extrasNumPorts, bool extrasIsSpinnable) { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 2_000; gizmos!(bigPort, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(bigPort, true ).length = 5_000; addGizmos(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable, 8_000); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(bigPort, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(bigPort, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } void main(string[] args) { int bigPort; int extrasNumPorts; bool extrasIsSpinnable; try { bigPort = to!int (args[1]); extrasNumPorts = to!int (args[2]); extrasIsSpinnable = to!bool(args[3]); if(bigPort != 3 && bigPort != 5 && bigPort != 10) throw new Exception("Invalid choice for bigPort"); } catch(Throwable e) { writeln("Usage:"); writeln(" ex6_meta_flex3_runtimeToCompileTime1 "~ "{bigPort} {extrasNumPorts} {extrasIsSpinnable}"); writeln("bigPort must be 3, 5 or 10"); writeln("Example: ex6_meta_flex3_runtimeToCompileTime1 5 2 true"); return; } UltraGiz ultra; UltraGiz ultra; if(bigPort == 3) ultra.run!3(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable); else if(bigPort == 5) ultra.run!5(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable); else if(bigPort == 10) ultra.run!10(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable); } That will work, but there's two potential problems with it. The first problem is that it involves extra runtime code. That could cut into, or possibly even eliminate, the efficiency savings from metaprogramming. However, the extra runtime code is only run once when setting up the Gizmos, not while the Gizmos are actually being used. So as long as the Gizmo usage is enough to overshadow the extra overhead, it should still be worth it. The second problem is that the addGizmos() function is an incredibly repetitive mess of copy-pasted code. It's a total violation of DRY: Don't Repeat Yourself. Maintaining that function would be very error-prone. Fortunately, that's easily fixed with a preprocessor, macros, or in D's case, string mixins: From ex6_meta_flex3_runtimeToCompileTime2.d: void addGizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable, int numGizmos) { string dispatch(int[] numPortsArray) { auto str = ""; foreach(numPorts; numPortsArray) { auto numPortsStr = to!string(numPorts); str ~= ` if(numPorts == `~numPortsStr~`) { if(isSpinnable) addGizmosTo!(`~numPortsStr~`, true )(numGizmos); else addGizmosTo!(`~numPortsStr~`, false)(numGizmos); } else `; } str ~= `throw new Exception( to!string(numPorts)~"-port Gizmo not supported." );`; return str; } mixin(dispatch( [1, 2, 3, 5, 10] )); } If you wish, you can see the generated code by simply outputting the result of dispatch: From snippet_outputGeneratedCode.d: mixin(dispatch( [1, 2, 3, 5, 10] )); immutable code = dispatch( [1, 2, 3, 5, 10] ); pragma(msg, "code:

"~code); mixin(code); Method #4: Dynamic Fallback Just like the town elder who made the handcrafted version, we can fallback on a dynamic version that uses runtime options instead of compile-time options. This is easier and more flexible than the previous method. In fact, method #1, compile-time function execution, is probably the only method that's easier than this, but this one is more powerful and supported by more languages. So this is a pretty good option. However, the downside is this would naturally be the least efficient of all the methods, since some of the Gizmos would forgo the metaprogramming benefits. But as long as you don't need runtime configurability for all your Gizmos, then you can still get a net savings over the original non-metaprogramming version. To do this, we'll use the same metaprogramming Gizmo we've been using for all the other methods in this section. But we'll also add a DynamicGizmo which is identical to the original Gizmo in ex1_original.d, just with a different name. Then, the UltraGiz will look like this (as usual, changes from ex4_metaprogramming.d are highlighted): From ex6_meta_flex4_dynamicFallback1.d: struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(T) { T[] gizmos; } template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { alias gizmos!( Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable) ) gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run(int bigPort, int extrasNumPorts, bool extrasIsSpinnable) { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 2_000; gizmos!(DynamicGizmo).length = 18_000; foreach(i; 0..5_000) gizmos!(DynamicGizmo)[i] = DynamicGizmo(bigPort, false); foreach(i; 5_000..10_000) gizmos!(DynamicGizmo)[i] = DynamicGizmo(bigPort, true); foreach(i; 10_000..18_000) gizmos!(DynamicGizmo)[i] = DynamicGizmo(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!DynamicGizmo) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } void main(string[] args) { int bigPort; int extrasNumPorts; bool extrasIsSpinnable; try { bigPort = to!int (args[1]); extrasNumPorts = to!int (args[2]); extrasIsSpinnable = to!bool(args[3]); } catch(Throwable e) { writeln("Usage:"); writeln(" ex6_meta_flex4_dynamicFallback1 "~ "{bigPort} {extrasNumPorts} {extrasIsSpinnable}"); writeln("Example: ex6_meta_flex4_dynamicFallback1 5 2 true"); return; } UltraGiz ultra; UltraGiz ultra; ultra.run(bigPort, extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable); } The original Gizmo with the runtime options, ie DynamicGizmo, is used where necessary, while the more common cases are optimized with metaprogramming techniques. Not a bad compromise. As you can see in the full code listing for ex6_meta_flex4_dynamicFallback1.d, I opted to make a completely separate definition for the dynamic version of Gizmo; that is, the DynamicGizmo. It would have also been possible to use a single definition for both the metaprogramming Gizmo and the DynamicGizmo. To do that, you'd just need to add another compile-time parameter, say bool dynamicGizmo, to go along with numPorts and isSpinnable. Doing so would probably be a good idea if only part of your struct is affected by the change from runtime options to compile-time options. But with Gizmo, the metaprogramming version converted practically everything to compile-time options, so in this case it was a little cleaner to just leave DynamicGizmo defined separately. One other notable change I made was to the gizmos template (Ie, the arrays that had been named gizmosA, gizmosB, etc. in the earlier handcrafted version.) In all the other metaprogramming versions, gizmos had been templated on number of ports and spinnability. That worked fine, but now we have DynamicGizmo which doesn't really fit into that. So now gizmos is templated on the Gizmo's type so the dynamic Gizmos can be accessed with gizmos!(DynamicGizmo). Unfortunately, that also means the nice simple: gizmos!(2, true) Becomes the ugly: gizmos!( Gizmos!(2, true) ) So I created an overload of the gizmos template which maps the nice simple old syntax to the new one. As an extra benefit, templating gizmos on type makes it easy to clean up all those repetitive foreach statements in UltraGiz.run(): From ex6_meta_flex4_dynamicFallback2.d: void run(int bigPort, int extrasNumPorts, bool extrasIsSpinnable) { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 2_000; gizmos!(DynamicGizmo).length = 18_000; foreach(i; 0..5_000) gizmos!(DynamicGizmo)[i] = DynamicGizmo(bigPort, false); foreach(i; 5_000..10_000) gizmos!(DynamicGizmo)[i] = DynamicGizmo(bigPort, true); foreach(i; 10_000..18_000) gizmos!(DynamicGizmo)[i] = DynamicGizmo(extrasNumPorts, extrasIsSpinnable); foreach(i; 0..10_000) { alias TypeTuple!( Gizmo!(1, false), Gizmo!(1, true ), Gizmo!(2, false), Gizmo!(2, true ), DynamicGizmo, ) AllGizmoTypes; foreach(T; AllGizmoTypes) foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!T) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); } The Last Remaining Elephant In The Room: Runtime Conversion Don't worry, I'm not really going to introduce an elephant into the story... We've already seen various ways of configuring a compile-time option at runtime. But that was limited to creating a Gizmo. Once created, a Gizmo was stuck with those settings. So what if the number of ports and spinnablity of an existing Gizmo needs to change? If only a few Gizmos need to be able to change, we can just make those few out of the DynamicGizmo from earlier with only trivial modifications. But suppose all the Gizmos need to be changeable: Now how do we change the settings of an existing Gizmo without giving up the metaprogramming benefits? In our original example, it would have been trivial to modify the Gizmo code so you could change a Gizmo's number of ports and spinnablity after it was created. They were already runtime values. But our metaprogramming examples have taken advantage of the fact that such values were fixed when a Gizmo is created. In fact, that's the fundamental key of the metaprogramming versions: "Turn your runtime options into compile-time options." If one of these settings needs to change frequently during a program's run, then naturally it must be a runtime option. Turning it into a compile-time value won't improve its efficiency. That's because the "runtime to compile-time" trick works by taking advantage of the fact that certain values don't really need to change. So unfortunately, if a setting needs to change frequently, it must remain a runtime value. The only way to optimize it out is to eliminate the feature entirely. However, if the settings only need to change occasionally, then we're still in business. "What? Have you completely lost it? Configuring a compile-time option at runtime was crazy enough. And now you intend to change a compile-time option at runtime?! They're immutable!" It not so strange, really. In fact, functional programming experts probably already know where I'm going with this... Listen carefully: We converted the runtime values to compile-time ones by encoding them as part of the type, right? So to change the compile-time value, all we have to do is convert the variable to a different type. Just like converting an integer to a string. Easy. Except this is even easier because the types we're converting are fundamentally very similar. Naturally, this does take extra processing. Likely much more than just simply changing an ordinary runtime variable. That's why I made a big deal about how frequently you need the value to change. If it changes a lot, you'll just slow things down from all the converting. But as long as it doesn't change enough to use up the efficiency savings from metaprogramming, you'll still end up ahead. I'll demonstrate this by shuffling around a few Gizmos on every iteration. You'll notice that I'm always keeping the same number of each type of Gizmo, but that's not a real limitation: That's only so we can still compare benchmarks. It would be trivial to actually change a Gizmo without keeping everything balanced. All you'd have to do is remove the old Gizmo from the array for the old type, and append the newly converted one to the array for the new type. Of course, if you were to do this, you'd probably want to use a linked list or a stack instead of an array, since arrays have poor performance with such a usage pattern. For simplicity, I won't use any of the "Flexibility Enhancements" covered in the previous section. But the techniques can certainly still be combined. I've highlighted the changes from the original metaprogramming version, ex4_metaprogramming.d: From ex7_meta_runtimeConversion.d: struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; static if(numPorts < 1) static assert(false, "A portless Gizmo is useless!"); private OutputPort[numPorts] ports; void doStuff() { static if(numPorts == 1) ports[0].zap(); else static if(numPorts == 2) { ports[0].zap(); ports[1].zap(); } else { foreach(port; ports) port.zap(); } } static if(isSpinnable) int spinCount; void spin() { static if(isSpinnable) spinCount++; } TOut convertTo(TOut)() { TOut newGizmo; static if(isSpinnable && TOut.isSpinnable) newGizmo.spinCount = this.spinCount; int portsToCopy = min(newGizmo.numPorts, this.numPorts); newGizmo.ports[0..portsToCopy] = this.ports[0..portsToCopy]; return newGizmo; } } struct OutputPort { int numZaps; void zap() { numZaps++; } } struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(5, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(5, true ).length = 5_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { } struct OutputPort { int numZaps; void zap() { numZaps++; } } struct UltraGiz { template gizmos(int numPorts, bool isSpinnable) { Gizmo!(numPorts, isSpinnable)[] gizmos; } int numTimesUsedSpinny; int numTimesUsedTwoPort; void useGizmo(T)(ref T gizmo) { gizmo.doStuff(); gizmo.spin(); if(gizmo.isSpinnable) numTimesUsedSpinny++; if(gizmo.numPorts == 2) numTimesUsedTwoPort++; } void run() { StopWatch stopWatch; stopWatch.start(); gizmos!(1, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(1, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, false).length = 10_000; gizmos!(2, true ).length = 10_000; gizmos!(5, false).length = 5_000; gizmos!(5, true ).length = 5_000; foreach(i; 0..10_000) { auto old1PortNoSpin = gizmos!(1, false)[i]; gizmos!(1, false)[i] = gizmos!(2, true)[i].convertTo!( Gizmo!(1, false) )(); gizmos!(2, true)[i] = gizmos!(5, true)[i%2].convertTo!( Gizmo!(2, true) )(); gizmos!(5, true)[i%2] = old1PortNoSpin.convertTo!( Gizmo!(5, true) )(); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(1, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(2, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, false)) useGizmo(gizmo); foreach(ref gizmo; gizmos!(5, true )) useGizmo(gizmo); } writeln(stopWatch.peek.msecs, "ms"); assert(numTimesUsedSpinny == 25_000 * 10_000); assert(numTimesUsedTwoPort == 20_000 * 10_000); } } Conversion Downsides And Possible Fixes There are a couple downsides to the runtime conversions above. But, they can be dealt with. Hold It, Gizmo! Quit Squirming Around! One issue with converting a Gizmo is that doing so puts it in a different memory location. This means that if anything was keeping a reference to the Gizmo, after conversion the reference is no longer pointing to the newly converted Gizmo. It's still referring to the old location. This may not always be an issue. But if it does matter, you can solve it by using a tagged union. Something like this: From example_anyGizmo.d: import std.stdio; struct Gizmo(int _numPorts, bool _isSpinnable) { static immutable numPorts = _numPorts; static immutable isSpinnable = _isSpinnable; } struct AnyGizmo { TypeInfo currentType; GizmoUnion gizmoUnion; union GizmoUnion { Gizmo!(1, false) gizmo1NS; Gizmo!(1, true ) gizmo1S; Gizmo!(2, false) gizmo2NS; Gizmo!(2, true ) gizmo2S; Gizmo!(5, false) gizmo5NS; Gizmo!(5, true ) gizmo5S; } void set(T)(T value) { static if(is(T==Gizmo!(1, false))) gizmoUnion.gizmo1NS = value; else static if(is(T==Gizmo!(1, true))) gizmoUnion.gizmo1S = value; else static if(is(T==Gizmo!(2, false))) gizmoUnion.gizmo2NS = value; else static if(is(T==Gizmo!(2, true))) gizmoUnion.gizmo2S = value; else static if(is(T==Gizmo!(5, false))) gizmoUnion.gizmo5NS = value; else static if(is(T==Gizmo!(5, true))) gizmoUnion.gizmo5S = value; currentType = typeid(T); } } void useGizmo(T)(T gizmo) { writeln("Using a gizmo:"); writeln(" ports=", gizmo.numPorts); writeln(" isSpinnable=", gizmo.isSpinnable); } void main() { AnyGizmo anyGizmo; anyGizmo.set( Gizmo!(2, true)() ); if( anyGizmo.currentType == typeid(Gizmo!(1, false)) ) useGizmo( anyGizmo.gizmoUnion.gizmo1NS ); else if( anyGizmo.currentType == typeid(Gizmo!(1, true)) ) useGizmo( anyGizmo.gizmoUnion.gizmo1S ); else if( anyGizmo.currentType == typeid(Gizmo!(2, false)) ) useGizmo( anyGizmo.gizmoUnion.gizmo2NS ); else if( anyGizmo.currentType == typeid(Gizmo!(2, true)) ) useGizmo( anyGizmo.gizmoUnion.gizmo2S ); else if( anyGizmo.currentType == typeid(Gizmo!(5, false)) ) useGizmo( anyGizmo.gizmoUnion.gizmo5NS ); else if( anyGizmo.currentType == typeid(Gizmo!(5, true)) ) useGizmo( anyGizmo.gizmoUnion.gizmo5S ); else throw new Exception("Unexpected type"); } As you see in main() above, before you use an AnyGizmo, you first check the type via currentType and then use the appropriate member of gizmoUnion. This does have a few gotchas, though: First, you have the runtime cost of checking the type before using the Gizmo. But this may be minimal, since you won't usually need to check the type on every single member access, only when it might have changed. Second, since a union must be the size of its largest member, you won't get as much space savings when using an AnyGizmo. But, if the mere existence of one of your optional features requires extra time-consuming processing, you can at least save time because any Gizmos that forgo that feature won't incur the extra cost. Plus, this issue will only affect an AnyGizmo, not any other Gizmos you may have in use. The final gotcha is that this makes converting a Gizmo more costly since the newly converted Gizmo needs to be copied back to the memory location of the original Gizmo. But if the Gizmo only needs to be converted occasionally, this shouldn't be a problem. If it is a problem, though, it may be possible to do the conversion in-place in memory. Hey Data, Get Back Here! The other main issue with converting Gizmos is that some conversions can loose data. Suppose we convert a spinny Gizmo to a non-spinny and back again. The non-spinny Gizmos don't have a spinCount, so our newly re-spinified Gizmo has lost its original spinCount data. It's back at zero again. Same thing with the ports: Convert a 5-port to a 2-port and back again and you've lost the numZaps from the last three ports. Sometimes that might matter, sometimes it might not. Or it might matter for only some pieces of data. In any case, there's an easy fix: just make sure every Gizmo type has the data you don't want to loose. Even if a certain type of Gizmo doesn't actually use that data, let the Gizmo hold on to that data anyway. If you need to hold on to all the data, then as with the AnyGizmo above, each Gizmo type will take up as much space as the largest Gizmo. In fact, in such a case, using the AnyGizmo above may be a good idea. Except this time, the performance cost of doing conversions can be almost completely eliminated. How? Suppose every type of Gizmo does need to hold all the possible Gizmo data, and you use AnyGizmo. In that case, if you arrange all the data members of all the Gizmo types so everything is always laid out in memory the same way, then to convert the AnyGizmo from one type to another, all you need to do is change the currentType member. That's it. Everything else will already be in the right place. At this point, it might sound like we've merely re-invented the DynamicGizmo. While it is similar, there are two important differences: First, this method allows us to have completely different functions for each Gizmo type. Each type can have a different set of functions, and each function can be specially-tailored to the features that Gizmo is supposed to support. So the Gizmos don't have to spend any extra processing time dealing with being flexible (for instance, by checking their own isSpinnable variables to see whether or not to actually spin). Essentially, we have a form of polymorphism. In fact, if a DynamicGizmo isn't included in the AnyGizmo, then there can still be a space savings over DynamicGizmo because variables like isSpinnable still won't need to exist at runtime at all. Second, if we want to change multiple settings on a Gizmo, we only need to actually modify one value: the value of currentType. Curtain Call Although the examples throughout this article have focused on situations with large numbers of simplistic objects, these techniques can also work very well with smaller numbers of objects that do a lot of processing. The templated versions of UltraGiz give just a small glimpse of this. We've seen that you can use metaprogramming with structs to achieve much of the same flexibility as classes while avoiding the class overhead. But even if you do go with classes, these metaprogramming techniques can still aid in optimization without forcing you to cut features and give up flexibility. Ok, so towards the end we did start running into more tension between efficiency and flexibility. Perhaps those wacky nuts will never fully resolve their differences. But even so, they've made some major progress. Whenever you have values or settings that don't need to change, you don't have to choose between eliminating them for efficiency and keeping them for flexibility. You can have both, with no compromise. And even if your values and settings do need to change, but just not constantly, you still have many options available for getting your efficiency and flexibility to cohabitate peacefully. So go ahead, use metaprogramming to have your efficiency, and flexibility too. Thanks to Lars T. Kyllingstad, bearophile and Timon Gehr for their suggestions.