PB Speed Challenge

[Jack Death]

hi all!

below is the description and source of a proggy that does permutation of a
dataset, i found one routine doing this in the forum here, but is so slow that
good old c had to come in to the rescue...

compare the speed of this proggy to that in the forums here and you'll be blown
away! the pb routine is so lame in comparison, well, uhm, that there is no
comparison! the one from the forum runs way slower, even on 200mhz pentium
system under nt2000.
here's the code from the
forum: http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...ad.php?t=22353

anyways, now that the mood is set, check out this proggy by paul and think it
over, can you write something better, faster?

the algorithm used is fairly simple. for each item i in a set of n items:

remove item i from the data set;
find all permutations of the remaining n - 1 items;
insert item i back into the set in its original position
the recursive function perm() shows this algorithm. each permutation is printed
as it is found.

the rest of the code is relatively lengthy, but merely supports the above
algorithm by providing it with appropriate data structures. two data structures
are provided:

a data set, an ordered list allowing two operations:
removing an item from a given position, and
inserting an item into a given position
a stack to hold the current permutation, which like all stacks allows two
operations:
pushing an item onto the top of the stack, and
popping an item off the top of the stack
in order to understand the algorithm used to find the permutations, it is not
necessary to delve into the details of these functions or data structures any
more than it is necessary to understand exactly how a printf() call produces
output on your screen. the main() and perm() functions describe the algorithm
completely.

functions to:

initialize and free memory used by the data set,
print out the contents of the stack, and
retrieve the number of data items from the command line
are also provided.


----------------------------------------------
usage:
pass the number of data items to the command line as the single argument. an
example session is shown below:

perm 3
permutations of 3 items:

abc
acb
bac
bca
cab
cba

6 permutations in all.
---------------------------------------------


executable size (in kb)14.256!
compiled and executed on an intel 166mhz pentium processor
with 32mb ram, running linux kernel 2.2.5-15

here you see the performance of the algorithm, where it becomes apparent
that the output (to screen etc) consumes more time than algorithm itself.
so instead of printing it, keeping it in an array eliminates the output
delays. one can then print the array with all permutations once the
program has done its job.


performance (with output):
=========================
invocation permutations (secs)
./perm 1 1 -
./perm 2 2 -
./perm 3 6 -
./perm 4 24 -
./perm 5 120 -
./perm 6 720 0.05
./perm 7 5,040 0.36
./perm 8 40,320 2.97
./perm 9 362,880 27.64


performance (no output):
=======================
invocation permutations (secs)
./perm 1 1 -
./perm 2 2 -
./perm 3 6 -
./perm 4 24 -
./perm 5 120 -
./perm 6 720 -
./perm 7 5,040 0.015
./perm 8 40,320 0.12
./perm 9 362,880 1.06
./perm 10 3,628,800 10.61
./perm 11 39,916,800 116.61


so here's the challenge:
show off pb and write it in pb/dll so it is at least as fast as the
c program, preferably even faster (if that can be done in pb)
the code should be pb only! however it would be cool to see what a
real assembler guru can do to speed it up even more once it's done...


jax

ps: i just aquired pb/dll a little while ago and am still trying to
figure it all out, however i know c since decades, so i figure it would
be easier to start with it. now i am exploring if bying pb was worth it
or not, seems to me that there are some serious speed penalties in
using pb. however, mayhaps there is a better solution ala pb style and i
am just not into it enough yet?

next post is c-source


------------------

[Jack Death]

===============================================================================
Source:
===============================================================================

perm.c
/*
  PERM.C
  ======
  Prints all the possible permutations of 'n' items.
  'n' must be supplied as the sole command line argument.
*/


#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#include "data.h"
#include "stack.h"
#include "cmdline.h"


static void Perm(unsigned n);

static int count = 0;


int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    unsigned n = ParseCmdLine(argc, argv);

    InitializeData(n);

    printf("Permutations of %u items:\n\n", n);
    Perm(n);
    printf("\n%d permutations in all.\n", count);

    FreeData();

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

void Perm(unsigned n) {
    unsigned item;

    if ( n == 0 ) {
        PrintStack();
        ++count;
        return;
    }

    for ( item = 0; item < n; ++item ) {
        Push(RemoveItem(item));
        Perm(n-1);
        InsertItem(Pop(), item);
    }
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

data.h
/*
  DATA.H
  ======
  Interface to functions for dealing with data
*/


#ifndef PG_DATA_H
#define PG_DATA_H

void InitializeData(unsigned n);
void FreeData(void);
char RemoveItem(unsigned pos);
void InsertItem(char n, unsigned pos);

#endif  /* PG_DATA_H */
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

data_array.c
/*
  DATA_ARRAY.C
  ============

  Functions for manipulating the data using arrays
*/


#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#include "data.h"


static char data[27] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
static unsigned size;


/*  Initialize memory for data  */

void InitializeData(unsigned n) {
    size = n;
}


/*  Free memory used for data  */

void FreeData(void) {
    return;
}

/*  Remove data item at position 'pos'  */

char RemoveItem(unsigned pos) {
    char d = data[pos];

    if ( pos >= size-- ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Data position %u is out of bounds.\n", pos);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    while ( pos < size ) {
        data[pos] = data[pos+1];
        ++pos;
    }

    return d;
}


/*  Insert data item 'n' at position 'pos'  */

void InsertItem(char n, unsigned pos) {
    int i = (signed) size;

    if ( pos > size++ ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Data position %u is out of bounds.\n", pos);
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    while ( --i >= (signed) pos )
        data[i+1] = data[i];

    data[pos] = n;
}


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

stack.h
/*
  STACK.H
  =======
  Interface to stack operations
*/


#ifndef PG_STACK_H
#define PG_STACK_H

void InitializeStack(void);
void Push(char n);
char Pop(void);
void PrintStack(void);

#endif  /* PG_STACK_H */


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

stack_array.c
/*
  STACK_ARRAY.C
  =============
  Stack operations using arrays
*/


#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#include "stack.h"


#define MAX_STACK_SIZE 26

static char stack[MAX_STACK_SIZE];
static int top = -1;


/*  Push item 'n' onto the stack  */

void Push(char n) {
    if ( ++top == MAX_STACK_SIZE ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Stack full!\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    stack[top] = n;
}


/*  Pop top item from the stack  */

char Pop(void) {
    if ( top < 0 ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "Stack empty!\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    return stack[top--];
}


/*  Output contents of stack  */

void PrintStack(void) {
    int i = 0;

    while ( i <= top )
        putchar(stack[i++]);

    putchar('\n');
}

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cmdline.h
/*
  CMDLINE.H
  =========
  Interface to command line parsing function
*/


#ifndef PG_CMDLINE_H
#define PG_CMDLINE_H

unsigned ParseCmdLine(int argc, char *argv[]);

#endif /* PG_CMDLINE_H */


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cmdline.c
/*
  CMDLINE.C
  =========
  Function to parse command line and return integral argument
*/


#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

#include "cmdline.h"


unsigned ParseCmdLine(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    unsigned n;
    char * endptr;

    if ( argc < 2 ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "You must supply an argument\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    else if ( argc > 2 ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "You must only supply one argument\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    n = (unsigned) strtoul(argv[1], &endptr, 0);

    if ( *endptr ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "You must supply a whole number as an argument\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    else if ( n > 26 ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "You must specify a number less than 27\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    else if ( n < 1 ) {
        fprintf(stderr, "You must specify a number greater than 0\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    return n;
}

------------------

[Michael Mattias]

Um, Mr. Death, the code you pointed us to is hardly "optimized" code.
It was written for the DOS compiler, it does a load of screen I-O, it uses the string engine extensively, etc, etc.

But...

You may not have noticed that the original requester said, "..works great...exactly what I need."

So I am wondering: are you just trying to get someone to do your job/homework for you?

Besides, it's not the compiler, it's the programmer. (You're new here, so you don't get the inside joke).

MCM




[This message has been edited by Michael Mattias (edited July 28, 2001).]

[Jack Death]

Neither is the one I submitted, that should have been very
obvious just by looking at it. I intentionally used code that isn't optimized,
because as it stands, I suspect that it would be impossible for PB to beat.

You suspect wrong, I don't need my homework done... I could care less, does it
occur to you that I don't need to write this in PB at all? And since PB has
pointers, I could also write it in PB as well, the question is: Can you?

Here's one like the one in the forum (quickly whipped up, just for you...)
============================================================================

not tested, just of the top of my head...

void perm (int);

int l = -1;
int num;
int *ar;

void main(void)
{
   int i;

   printf ("Enter n: ");  scanf ("%d", &num);
   printf ("\n");

   ar = malloc (num * sizeof (int));

   for (i=0; i < num; i++)
       ar[i] = 0;
   
   perm(0);
}


void perm (int k)
{
   int i;

   ar[k] = ++l;
   if (l == num)
      {
      for (i=0; i < num; i++) printf ("%2d", ar[i]);
      printf ("\n");
      }
   else
      for (i = 0; i < num; i++)
         if (ar[i] == 0) perm(i);

   l--;
   ar[k] = 0;
}

=========================================================

This would be EXTREMELY easy to translate into PB, just make
the malloc an array and use a varptr and you're off and
rolling in PB...

But now I am starting to solve my own challenge, forget it..

If you can't/won't take the challenge, that's okay, just please respond
with something constructive, or not at all...

FYI, I also get the "inside" joke... ;-)

I didn't post this to get useless responses, I posted this to see how
year long PB programmers would squeeze performance out of their favorite
toy, which I want to make mine also. Furthermore the best way to get into
the language is by having the best "teach" you. By examining what the
"Masters" here do, all of us can learn something about the idiosyncrasies
of the language and mayhaps even a trick ot two...


[This message has been edited by Jack Death (edited July 28, 2001).]

[Chris Boss]

Jack;

I don't program in C, but at first glance there is a significant
difference between the C code you posted and the PB DLL (was intended for PB 3.5)
code in the URL you listed.

If you attempt to use string variables in PB DLL, your program
will be using the Windows OLE string engine. An awful lot of
processing goes on in the background, when you use string variables.

The C code is using the CHAR type, which if my memory serves me,
would be comparable to a Byte array in PB and not a string variable.

Because the OLE string engine (which even VB uses) is significantly
slower than working with a byte array, the PB DLL code should be
significantly slower than the C code.

Now if the PB code were to use a byte array and pointers, which would
put it on par with the C code, I believe the PB code should be
able to hold its own compared to the C code in execution speed.

One of Basics main advantages is the variable length string variable
type. It is extremely useful, but there is a price to pay in slower
execution. In most instances it doesn't make a difference, but when
strings are used in a loop hundreds of times (or more), then the
speed lose becomes significant.

The comparison you are making is comparing Apples to Oranges
(which isn't a fair comparison). You need to compare some PB
code that is really doing the same thing (not just the algorythm,
but the actual same coding methods).

I can't guarantee that PB will always be as fast or faster than C,
but when the code is truly similiar, PB holds its own quite well.




------------------

[Scott Turchin]

Personally the "Mood" would sway me from even looking twice at the code.
#1, Linux does not have the overhead that windows does, so that in itself is not even a fair comparison.
#2, 14k compiled is what, the PB or Linux? PB Should compile down to 9k or so on something like that...I could be wrong.

If you do as these guys say and put it into a byte array and use pointers, it should be COMPARABLE to C code, given equal OS's and whatnot....

Or perhaps one of our ASM guru's could do it in ASM, which C also supports, THEN go back and run the test and ask if it's an even platform..

I have apps on my Linux box that Windows could not touch, Linux is by far faster, despite a 166....
My router for example is a 133 w/64 megs, and I could not do that in Win2k.


Apples and Oranges...


Scott

------------------
Scott

[Jack Death]

Okay, okay... This seems to go nowhere fast..

Forget the Linux, it was just a reference to show that this stuff can run very
fast, even on a "lame" machine. Think Windows, I mentioned that the PB version
(from the forum) runs very slow in Windows 2000 (on 200 MHz machine).
The code runs just as fast in Windows as it does in Linux, the OS doesn't seem
to make much, if any difference to the C implementation.

However, to get something like a a permutation of only 7 digits the original PB
code took around:

12 seconds for 5040 items, versus

10.61 secs for 3,628,800 items in the "lamer" C code vers. (without output), or

0.36 secs for 5040 items in the same with output.

Scott, please read my previous post about that, it kind of reaffirms what you are
saying. BTW, I run mine on PII 100 MHz, on Win98 and it has no problem dishing it's
INET traffic to 5 station connected simultaneously. There might be something wrong
with your setup if you can't do that in Win2k.

Chris, you figured out what this is about, you actually give your 5 Cents
worth on improving the PB code. By the way I added some animation functionality to
EZGUI, gives it some real cool effects. When I have more time I'll make a real cool
interface incorporating it and e-mail it.

To make it clear:
-------------------
Please be free to use any PB code you want to, you don't have to duplicate
any of the 2 above C versions, what I would like to see is a PB proggy
performing at these speeds, no matter how it's done (except for ASM,
'cause that would be the same for either PB or C)

So this is not about the same code performing on the same OS or platform,
it's about programming. We're not trying to compare Apples and Oranges here,
we're trying to show off programming know-how. The tricky, speedy stuff,
size isn't an issue since it's going to be small one way or the other....
Make it Apples, Oranges or Eggs, who cares, just show the speed!

That pointers can be used should be obvious (what else would you do in C,
for ex.?)

Hint: Anybody thought about a non-recursive version? linked list? Bitmaps?

Guys, don't be so touchy here, it's not an attack on PB/DLL, I know it's great
product (finally finished digesting the manual) and I am pretty
convinced that I can do most anything I want with it, at great
execution speeds, with the comfort of great functionality
built right into the language itself.
So roll in the feelers, don't be so sensitive, nobody wants
to step on them...

A routine like the one we're discussing (permutation) is a great discussion
item, after all, any speed improved in the code counts! Aren't we doing
hundreds of millions items with just 12 digits? And it gets really
interesting with more. This is one killer subject. Just think about
permutating "Abraham Lincoln"

Well, 'nuff said...


------------------




[This message has been edited by Jack Death (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Guest]

Jack, rewrote your smaller app in PB. With no output the results are very similar.
>>> num=11 <<<
PB Elapsed: 11256ms
VC Elapsed: 12007ms

#Dim All
#Option Version4
 
Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "KERNEL32.DLL" Alias "GetTickCount" () As Dword
Declare Sub perm (k As Long)
Global l      As Long
Global num    As Long
Global arl()  As Long
Global ar     As Long Ptr
 
Function PbMain
  Local i  As Long
  Local s  As Long
  Local f  As Long
  num = Val(Command$)
  l=-1
  s = GetTickCount()
  ReDim arl(0 To num) As Global Long
  ar = VarPtr(arl(0))
  For i = 0 To num -1
    @ar[i] = 0
  Next
  perm 0
  f = GetTickCount()
  StdOut "PB Elapsed:" & Str$(f-s) & "ms"
End Function
 
Sub perm (k As Long)
   Local i As Long
   Incr l
   @ar[k] = l
   If (l = num) Then
      For i = 0 To num -1
    '    StdOut Str$(@ar[i]);
      Next
    '  StdOut ""
   Else
      For i = 0 To num -1
        If (@ar[i] = 0) Then
          perm i
        End If
      Next
   End If
   Decr l
   @ar[k] = 0
End Sub

[This message has been edited by Ron Pierce (edited July 28, 2001).]

[Jack Death]

Hi Ron,

that's the ticket! A man short of words but large on action ;-)

Yup, that's one way of doing it! The short version I presented sure beats
the heck out of the original version shown and turns out to be even faster
in PB than in C! For:

10 digits 8.330 secs on my PII 200Mhz WIN98/ME versus

10 digits 10.92 secs for the C version on same machine)

That's 3,628,800 different combinations created in in about 8 secs!

PB is the clear winner here, as Ron so surely proved!
-----------------------------------------------------
So there is a way to compare these Apples with Oranges after all...
This may just turn out to be an interesting thread...

Pointers have something going for them, don't they?

Great job Ron,
==============

Thanx for the time taken, but I suspect you knew this
was easy, didn't ya? ;-)

Anybody have an idea of about how to get these results ordered lexically?
I'll do a C quicky tomorrow afternoon (just came back from a party)


------------------




[This message has been edited by Jack Death (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Semen Matusovski]

Ron --
1) You lose at least 10-15% because of @ar[i]
@ar[i] works slowly than ar(i).

2) ReDim arl(0 To num) As Global Long
PB is a little strange compiler.
It keeps an address of LBound element instead of zero element.
To optimize, it decides in compilation time to substract lbound or not.
When Pb sees ReDim ar(a To b) it will substract in execution time, even if a = 0 and declared ar(0 To num).



------------------
E-MAIL: [email protected]

[Guest]

Thanks, Semen. It was late at night here in east coast, usa.
I havent had my coffee yet, so I am having to absorb what you said about the REDIM of the array.

PB is a little strange compiler.
It keeps an address of LBound element instead of zero element.
To optimize, it decides in compilation time to substract lbound or not.
When Pb sees ReDim ar(a To b) it will substract in execution time, even if a = 0 and declared ar(0 To num).

I did notice i had created an extra array element. I don't understand exactly what you mean about the lbound element. I thought my lbound would be 0.

Are you sure about the pointers? If I am not mistaken, ar[i] is the address of a pointer whereas @ar[i] is touching the data.

Thanks,
Ron

[Eric Pearson]

Ron --

> I don't understand exactly what you
> mean about the lbound element.

I think he is referring to the fact that using DIM MyArray(100) will produce more efficient PowerBASIC code than DIM MyArray(0 TO 100).

-- Eric

------------------
Perfect Sync Development Tools
Perfect Sync Web Site
Contact Us: mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[This message has been edited by Eric Pearson (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Guest]

Thanks, Eric. Is that documented anywhere? I thought the "0" would cause the same code generation.

Update (my last post in this box canyon)
The code did become more efficient with dim(xx) as global long. Thanks Semen and Eric.
Somewhat unfortunantly, I was using debug code generation
settings for VC. I tried VC with Minimum Size and Maximum Speed.
The times were 580ms and 551ms respectively.
The fastest PB time was 991ms.

In this test it appears C will win and I am pretty sure it's because of the recursive function calls. Function overhead has been discussed before. Based upon the dialog of those discussions, I doubt this situation will be addressed as it's a BASIC/design decision kind of thing. I think the compiler might need another pass to optimize the calls and thus generate only the actual minimum overhead needed by each function. I for one could care less if my compile times increased 2x.

Just keep in mind this is a specific test with a tiny, unsophisticated app. I strongly believe what Bob Zale says about the PowerBASIC generated code being more efficient than C's. There is some "overhead" penalty when calling functions/subs. The optimized code in a function/sub will neutralize the initial overhead provided there is enough code executed inside the function. My dream is for this overhead to go away then there is simply no contest anymore.

Some of you guys have played with Call Dword to skip over the overhead of calling a function. I don't think this can be done recursively - or can it?

Ron

[Eric Pearson]

Ron --

> Is that documented anywhere?

Well, now that I have researched it, this may be one of those pieces of "knowledge" that I incorrectly carried over from my PB/DOS days. This is from the PB/DOS Help File:

You should never specify an explicit lower limit of 0 (unless a non-zero $OPTION BASE is active) as this imposes an efficiency penalty with no meaningful benefits.

But I don't see anything about it in the PB/DLL or PB/CC docs, so I may have incorrectly assumed that the rule applies to the Windows compilers.

-- Eric


------------------
Perfect Sync Development Tools
Perfect Sync Web Site
Contact Us: mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[This message has been edited by Eric Pearson (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Semen Matusovski]

It's not documented, but easy to test.
In my impression PB does following in compilation time.
It looks all Dim/Redim for an array.
If somewhere there is To, PB selects a slow variant (with substraction lbound in execution time).
Of course, PB could be a little clever and to ignore 0 To, but actually - I think - better to use standart approach : to keep address of zero element.
This allows not to substract in any case (lbound = 0 or not).

About C vs PB. Frankly, guess that in equal conditions C will win 10-20%, because it's really good optimized.

About recoursive ... Depends of situations, but typically it's possible to convert to following

PUSH "end of query"
PUSH "first k" 
Do
   POP k
   If k = "end" Then Exit Do
   .... PUSH "next k" .... (for recoursive call)
Loop

------------------
E-MAIL: [email protected]

[Jack Death]

Ron, Semen,

Hmmm, this was pretty interesting! However, I can't confirm the pointer nor
the REDIM problem Semen talks about. DIM it and it actually get slower!
Change the pointer to array syntax and nothing significant changes. It seems
that the assumptions are incorrect.

Recursion might be the problem (pushing/popping the stack), I agree with Ron
that the overhead must be eliminated, as it leaves the C version almost twice
as fast as the PB version!

Also, just in case somebody here wonders why this might be of interest:

It isn't! (well at least not for "regular" programs doing trivial IO/computations)

However, if you ever need speed in programs that handle:

1. arrays,
2. databases
3. computational intensive apps (DES ring a bell?)
4. data analysis
5. large amounts of data to be modified

and so on, it becomes painfully clear that C needs to be used if the program
calls FUNCTIONS repetitively (like in a loop, or straight recursion) This is
what the discussion has gained so far, mayhaps that will change...

It also shows that the use of pointer versus traditional BASIC array
manipulation can gain dramatic speed increases, so, you should start thinking
in those terms, if you don't already.
This is typical C stuff, but atypical for BASIC programming. The proof is in the
pudding, just examine the solution shown in the forum link at the very top of thread,
it shows "BASIC thinking", not "speed/optimize thinking".
It's always faster to juggle a few address bytes than it is to juggle the whole or partial array.
So this thread may just convince some of you lurkers to change your programming habits ;-)

(To Michael: YES, it is the programmer, but it is also in depth
knowledge of the tool used that counts and that's what we are trying to do here;
figuring out the PB compiler and what strategies are best to use for it)
There's always more than way to Rome, finding the best one is the problem...

That said, I whipped up a little proggy, doing the permutations WITHOUT
recursion AND have it sort the permutations while it's at it.

Ron, you might want to take this one out for a test drive...
(It's just as easy to convert as the previous one)

Mayhaps this will show off PB...

New code follows:

/*No recursion and sorted output */

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
void main(void)
{
    int i, j, x, y, tmp, n;
    int *ar;
    printf( "Enter n: ");
    scanf( "%d", &n);
    ar = malloc( (n+1) * sizeof(int));
    for (i=0; i <= n; i++)
        ar[i] = i;
    i = 1;
    while (i)
    {
        for (i=1; i <= n; i++)
            printf( " %2d", ar[i]);
        printf("\n");
        i = n-1;
        while (ar[i] > ar[i+1])
            i--;
        j = n;
        while (ar[i] > ar[j])
            j--;
        tmp = ar[i];
        ar[i] = ar[j];
        ar[j] = tmp;
        x = n;
        y = i+1;
        while (x > y)
        {
            tmp = ar[x];
            ar[x] = ar[y];
            ar[y] = tmp;
            x--;
            y++;
        }
    }
}

------------------

[Semen Matusovski]

> I can't confirm the pointer nor the REDIM problem Semen talks about.

  #Dim All
  #Option Version4
  Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "KERNEL32.DLL" Alias "GetTickCount" () As Dword
  Declare Sub perm (k As Long)
  Global l      As Long
  Global num    As Long
  Global arl()  As Long
  Global ar     As Long Ptr

  Function PbMain
     Local i  As Long
     Local s  As Long
     Local f  As Long
     num = 11 ' Val(Command$)
     l=-1
     s = GetTickCount()
     ReDim arl(0 To num) As Global Long
     ar = VarPtr(arl(0))
     For i = 0 To num -1
        @ar[i] = 0
     Next
     perm 0
     f = GetTickCount()
     StdOut "PB Elapsed:" & Str$(f-s) & "ms"
     WaitKey$
  End Function
  
  Sub perm (k As Long)
     Local i As Long
     Incr l
     @ar[k] = l
     If (l = num) Then
        For i = 0 To num -1
           '    StdOut Str$(@ar[i]);
        Next
        '  StdOut ""
     Else
        For i = 0 To num -1
           If (@ar[i] = 0) Then
               perm i
           End If
        Next
     End If
     Decr l
     @ar[k] = 0
  End Sub

This is an original variant (I explicity set num = 11 + added Waitkey$)

On my PC (PIII-800, Win2000 SP2) takes 19,2 sec.

After modification

  #Dim All
  #Option Version4
  Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "KERNEL32.DLL" Alias "GetTickCount" () As Dword
  Declare Sub perm (k As Long)
  Global l      As Long
  Global num    As Long
  Global ar()  As Long

  Function PbMain
     Local i  As Long
     Local s  As Long
     Local f  As Long
     num = 11 ' Val(Command$)
     l=-1
     s = GetTickCount()
     ReDim ar(num) As Global Long
     For i = 0 To num -1
        ar(i) = 0 ' <-- actually not necessary
     Next
     perm 0
     f = GetTickCount()
     StdOut "PB Elapsed:" & Str$(f-s) & "ms"
     WaitKey$
  End Function
  
  Sub perm (k As Long)
     Local i As Long
     Incr l
     ar(k) = l
     If (l = num) Then
        For i = 0 To num -1
           '    StdOut Str$(@ar[i]);
        Next
        '  StdOut ""
     Else
        For i = 0 To num -1
           If (ar(i) = 0) Then
               perm i
           End If
        Next
     End If
     Decr l
     ar(k) = 0
  End Sub

Takes 16.9 sec. Which results do you have ?

------------------
E-MAIL: [email protected]

[Semen Matusovski]

I decided to look a code in debugger.
So, I added

     k = -10000000

at the bottom before

     ar(k) = 0
  End Sub

to initiate Access Violation.

ar(k) = 0 looks so

a) with ReDim ar(num) As Global Long

00401239   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]
0040123C   mov         dword ptr [ebx],0FF676980h
00401242   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]
00401245   mov         eax,dword ptr [ebx]
00401247   mov         ebx,dword ptr ds:[4043B8h]
0040124D   mov         dword ptr [ebx+eax*4],0

b) with ReDim ar(0 To num) As Global Long

0040124B   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]
0040124E   mov         dword ptr [ebx],0FF676980h
00401254   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]
00401257   mov         eax,dword ptr [ebx]
00401259   sub         eax,dword ptr ds:[4043D0h]
0040125F   mov         ebx,dword ptr ds:[4043B8h]
00401265   mov         dword ptr [ebx+eax*4],0

Do you see additional 00401259 sub eax,dword ptr ds:[4043D0h] ?

Now how Ron's code looks

 k = -10000000
 @ar[k] = 0

Redim is not important here, because ar is a single Long Ptr, not an array

00401266   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]          ' address of k
00401269   mov         dword ptr [ebx],0FF676980h     ' <---------- k = -10000000
0040126F   mov         ebx,dword ptr ds:[4043B8h]     ' address of ar 
00401275   mov         dword ptr [ebp-2Ch],ebx        ' @ar
00401278   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]          ' address of k (it's input parameter; PB does mov ebp. esp during enterance)
0040127B   mov         eax,dword ptr [ebx]            ' value of k 
0040127D   shl         eax,2                          ' multiply 4
00401280   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp-2Ch]        ' value of ponter ar
00401283   add         ebx,eax                        ' address for @ar[k] 
00401285   mov         dword ptr [ebx],0              ' @ar[k] = 0

Let's compare with my.

00401239   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]
0040123C   mov         dword ptr [ebx],0FF676980h
00401242   mov         ebx,dword ptr [ebp+8]
00401245   mov         eax,dword ptr [ebx]
00401247   mov         ebx,dword ptr ds:[4043B8h]
0040124D   mov         dword ptr [ebx+eax*4],0

If to forget about k = -10000000 (first two MOV in both variants)
4 mov vs 6 ("equal") mov + shl + add.

[This message has been edited by Semen Matusovski (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Guest]

I said I was done with this, but I have changed my mind.

Semen, I do see where the redim without specifying "To" does increase the speed a little. I am very curious (concerned???) that referencing a long array without a pointer (albeit indexed) is faster than with an indexed pointer - significantly faster.
My speeds were:

My Prog:      PB Elapsed: 46747ms
Semen's Prog: PB Elapsed: 33438ms

Any ideas about the pointer being slower anyone? Is this a fluke or should indexed pointers be discouraged?

Semen, what debugger do you use that gives you the compiled code?

Thanks,
Ron

[This message has been edited by Ron Pierce (edited July 29, 2001).]

[Jack Death]

Semen,

this gets wierder as the day gets older!
I did the "RON" version for 10 digits (my machine is 4 time slower than yours
and my hangover makes me impatient today that's why I didn't go for 11 digits)
8180 ms
8090 ms
8155 ms

Your version for 10 digits:
7590 ms
7470 ms
7355 ms

quite difference! Looking at your follow up, I can only suspect that there are
some intrinsic PB compiler optimizations, that we don't know about, maybe that's
something for next Manual/Help file wish list. Some of the optimizations should
definitely be explained to those who want to squeeze speed out of their code.

Nice work, Semen! This left us with no answers, just more questions!!! ARRGHH..
Wonder how the Non-Recursive version will work out...
PS: are you using the console compiler? (I have PB/DLL 6.0 and it doesn't like the stdout)

Thanx!

------------------


[This message has been edited by Jack Death (edited July 29, 2001).]