REGISTER Gains Less Than Expected?

[Gary Beene]

I made this simple test - calling a function which simply has nested do loops.

In one version, Local is used to declare loop variables i,j. In the second version, REGISTER is used to declare the loop variables.

When timed, both give approximately the same answer. Based on what I read in Help, I was expecting a very noticeable difference. Were my expectations too high? Or have I used REGISTER incorrectly?

#Compile Exe
#Dim All
#Include "win32api.inc"

Function PBMain() As Long
    Local hDlg As Dword
    Dialog New Pixels, 0, "Button Test",300,300,200,200, %WS_OverlappedWindow To hDlg
    Control Add Button, hDlg, 100,"Push", 50,10,100,20
    Dialog Show Modal hDlg Call DlgProc
End Function

CallBack Function DlgProc() As Long
   If Cb.Msg = %WM_Command And Cb.Ctl = 100 And Cb.CtlMsg = %BN_Clicked Then
      Dim iStart As Long, iEnd As Long, Result As String
      iStart = GetTickCount
      MySub_Slow
      iEnd = GetTickCount
      MsgBox "Slow: " + Format$((iEnd - iStart)/1000,3) & " seconds"

      iStart = GetTickCount
      MySub_Fast
      iEnd = GetTickCount
      MsgBox "Fast: " + Format$((iEnd - iStart)/1000,3) & " seconds"
   End If
End Function

Sub MySub_Slow
    Local i As Long, j As Long
    Local x As Single
    For i = 1 To 1000000
        For j = 1 To 2000
           x = i
        Next j
    Next i
End Sub

Sub MySub_Fast
    Register i As Long, j As Long
    Local x As Single
    For i = 1 To 1000000
        For j = 1 To 2000
           x = i
        Next j
    Next i
End Sub

[Gary Beene]

Oh, I see! I missed the compiler command:

#Register None

It must be used for REGISTER to be applied.

With #Register None in it, there was a 50% reduction in time to complete the loop.

Note that this big an increase was possible because there was no real content within the loops. The more code within the nested loops, the less of a % impact there will be.

With nothing in the loops, the slow version took 2.9 seconds, whereas the REGISTER version took 0.5 seconds. This shows where the speed advantage is seen.

[Paul Dixon]

Gary,

Sub MySub_Slow
    Local i As Long, j As Long

Without #REGISTER NONE the compiler will allocate the register variables for you and it will usually do the first suitable variables it comes across.
In your example that would be i and j so even though you don't explicitly declare tham as register variables they will be set by the compiler as register variables.

Paul.

[Gary Beene]

So, to see the real difference I need to make sure i,j are Register'd in one version, and not Register'd in the other.

I can do that by making unused variables r,s (for example) and apply Register to them.

Can I know which variable was selected as a register variable, when I allow the compiler to decide?

[Gary Beene]

Ok, I tested again.

If I do not use #Register None, then the Sub runs just as fast as when I do use #Register None - provided I let the compiler pick i,j as the Register variables. In this example, the ONLY variables were i,j so there was no doubt about which variables would be selected.

If I use #Register None, then create and use Register on other variables (not i,j, the loop variables), then the Sub runs more slowly.

Help doesn't say exactly how variables are picked as Register variables, so the only way to guarantee selection is to do it manually.

Thanks Paul, for the clarification.

[Christopher Carroll]

Help doesn't say exactly how variables are picked as Register variables, so the only way to guarantee selection is to do it manually.

In the help:
-- Optimizing your code; Use Register Variables; para 3:

The REGISTER statement allows you to choose which variables will be classified as Register variables. If you do not make the choice in a particular procedure, the compiler will attempt to choose for you. By default, the compiler will always assign the first two integer-class local variables available.

[Gary Beene]

Hi Christopher,

Whoops, it does say how it picks. My brain must have stopped with the word "attempt", taking that to mean there's no guarantee how REGISTER would be applied.

... the compiler will attempt to choose for you

Looking at the second sentence you quoted from Help, I probably wouldn't have used the sentence with the word "attempt" in it, I'd have just stated the compiler default action, qualified with some version of "if any such integer-class variables have been declared".

Thanks for pointing out the Help comment that I went blank on.

[Christopher Carroll]

Hi Gary

I read that sentence as meaning that the compiler can only assign a variable to a register if it is of the expected type (i.e. integer class or extended-precision float; but not a string, for example). Finding all the permutations of information in the help can be a challenge! Maybe we all need eidetic memories.

A small test, with 3 integer-class variables:

Function PbMain() As Long
    Register x As Long
    Register y As Long
    Local z As Long
    z = 1
End Function

decompiles the same as

Function PbMain() As Long
    Local x As Long
    Local y As Long
    Local z As Long
    z = 1
End Function

i.e.

...
XOR ESI,ESI                     ; x stored in ESI
XOR EDI,EDI                     ; y stored in EDI
MOV DWORD PTR SS:[EBP-A4],1     ; z = 1. z stored in application memory 
...

And with just 2 integer-class variables:

Function PbMain() As Long
    Local x As Long
    Local y As Long
    y = 1
End Function

this decompiles as:

...
XOR ESI,ESI                     ; x stored in ESI
XOR EDI,EDI                     ; y stored in EDI
MOV EDI,1                       ; y = 1
...