Write CBOR integers without branching on their sign or size

The sizes of a run of integers are hard to predict, and so is the type of
each element in an array that mixes negative (number_integer) and
non-negative (number_unsigned) values. Writing an integer branched on the
type, the sign, and the 1/2/4/8-byte size class, and the mispredictions
were the larger part of the time left on integer arrays.

- number_integer and number_unsigned share one case of write_cbor; the
  major type and the argument are selected with a sign mask.
- An integer's head is assembled without branches: the size class comes
  from a table indexed by count_leading_zeros(), and the first byte and
  the argument in network order are stored as one byte and one 8-byte
  word, of which only the head's length is kept. Heads of strings and
  containers keep the branching write_cbor_head(), as their lengths are
  mostly predictable.
- Arrays are written by write_cbor_array(), kept out of line so that the
  registers its loop needs are not saved on every call of write_cbor.
  Runs of integers are encoded straight into space reserved from the sink
  (the new reserve()/commit() of both sinks), so the write pointer stays
  in a register instead of being reloaded for every value.

The output is unchanged; the new test compares integer arrays at every
head-size boundary, in runs shorter and longer than one reservation and
broken up by other values, with an independent encoder through each sink.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
This commit is contained in:
Niels Lohmann committed 2026-10-14 13:48:16 +02:00
1 parent e26e1ad312
commit bbb33374d4
4 files changed
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@@ -21619,6 +21619,8 @@ NLOHMANN_JSON_NAMESPACE_END
#include <cstdlib> // _byteswap_ushort, _byteswap_ulong, _byteswap_uint64
#endif
// #include <nlohmann/detail/bit_ops.hpp>
// #include <nlohmann/detail/input/binary_reader.hpp>
// #include <nlohmann/detail/input/string_scan.hpp>
@@ -21639,6 +21641,7 @@ NLOHMANN_JSON_NAMESPACE_END
#include <algorithm> // max
#include <array> // array
#include <cstddef> // size_t
#include <cstring> // memcpy
#include <memory> // shared_ptr, make_shared
@@ -21681,8 +21684,8 @@ template<typename CharType> struct output_adapter_protocol
template<typename CharType>
using output_adapter_t = std::shared_ptr<output_adapter_protocol<CharType>>;
/// output_vector_sink appends writes of at least this many characters with
/// insert() instead of copying them to the space it keeps ahead
/// the largest number of characters a writer may reserve() from a sink at once;
/// output_vector_sink also appends writes of at least this size with insert()
constexpr std::size_t max_reserve_size = 256;
/// @brief non-virtual output sink writing into a std::vector
@@ -21763,6 +21766,31 @@ class output_vector_sink
}
}
/// @brief space for writing up to @a length characters directly
///
/// Returns a pointer to at least @a length (at most @ref max_reserve_size)
/// writable characters at the write position; @ref commit then keeps the
/// first ones of them. A writer can store whole words there and keep only
/// the bytes it needs, and keep its write pointer in a register across many
/// values instead of updating the sink after each.
JSON_HEDLEY_ALWAYS_INLINE
CharType* reserve(const std::size_t length)
{
JSON_ASSERT(length <= max_reserve_size);
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(v->size() - position < length))
{
grow(length);
}
return v->data() + position;
}
/// keep the first @a length characters written to the space from reserve()
JSON_HEDLEY_ALWAYS_INLINE
void commit(const std::size_t length) noexcept
{
position += length;
}
private:
/// make room for at least @a length more characters after the position;
/// kept out of line so that the write functions stay small enough for
@@ -21907,8 +21935,24 @@ class output_adapter_sink
oa->write_characters(s, length);
}
/// space for writing up to @a length characters (see
/// output_vector_sink::reserve)
CharType* reserve(const std::size_t length) noexcept
{
JSON_ASSERT(length <= max_reserve_size);
static_cast<void>(length);
return reserved.data();
}
/// write the first @a length characters written to the space from reserve()
void commit(const std::size_t length)
{
oa->write_characters(reserved.data(), length);
}
private:
output_adapter_t<CharType> oa;
std::array<CharType, max_reserve_size> reserved{};
};
/// @brief whether std::basic_string<CharType> has a non-deprecated std::char_traits
@@ -22193,24 +22237,12 @@ class binary_writer
}
case value_t::number_integer:
{
if (j.m_data.m_value.number_integer >= 0)
{
// CBOR does not differentiate between positive signed
// integers and unsigned integers
write_cbor_head(0x00, static_cast<std::uint64_t>(j.m_data.m_value.number_integer));
}
else
{
// a negative integer n is encoded as -1 - n
write_cbor_head(0x20, static_cast<std::uint64_t>(-1 - j.m_data.m_value.number_integer));
}
break;
}
case value_t::number_unsigned:
{
write_cbor_head(0x00, j.m_data.m_value.number_unsigned);
// one case for both, so that an array mixing negative
// (number_integer) and non-negative (number_unsigned) values
// does not mispredict the switch
write_cbor_integer(j);
break;
}
@@ -22245,13 +22277,7 @@ class binary_writer
case value_t::array:
{
// step 1: write control byte and the array size
write_cbor_head(0x80, j.m_data.m_value.array->size());
for (const auto& el : *j.m_data.m_value.array)
{
write_cbor(el, depth + 1);
}
write_cbor_array(j, depth);
break;
}
@@ -23940,6 +23966,127 @@ class binary_writer
}
}
/*!
@brief encode the head of a CBOR integer to @a out without branching on its
size
@return the number of characters of the head; up to @ref cbor_integer_head_space
characters at @a out are overwritten
Same output as @ref write_cbor_head. The lengths of strings and containers
are mostly predictable, so their heads keep the branches; the sizes of a
run of integers are not, so an integer's head is assembled without them.
*/
std::size_t encode_cbor_integer_head(CharType* out, const std::uint8_t major_type, const std::uint64_t argument) const noexcept
{
// The size class - 0 if the argument fits the first byte, else 1 to 4
// for 1, 2, 4, or 8 following bytes - is looked up from the number of
// leading zero bits instead of found by branches: the sizes of a stream
// of numbers are hard to predict, and a mispredicted branch costs more
// than writing the head.
static constexpr std::uint8_t size_class_by_leading_zeros[64] =
{
4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4,
3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3,
2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2,
1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
};
// an argument of at most 23 is in the table's class 1 (one byte) and is
// moved to class 0 by subtracting 1; argument | 1 keeps
// count_leading_zeros() away from 0
const auto is_immediate = static_cast<unsigned>(argument <= 0x17u);
const unsigned size_class = size_class_by_leading_zeros[count_leading_zeros(argument | 1u)] - is_immediate;
const std::size_t length = (std::size_t{1} << size_class) >> 1u;
// The first byte - the argument itself if it is immediate, else
// 0x17 + size_class - selected through a mask, then the length
// low-order bytes of the argument in network order, written as one
// 8-byte word whose bytes after the argument are scratch that
// the caller drops. For an immediate argument the word is all
// scratch; it is shifted as if length were 1, avoiding a shift by 64.
const std::uint64_t immediate_mask = std::uint64_t{0} - is_immediate;
out[0] = to_char_type(static_cast<std::uint8_t>(major_type + ((argument & immediate_mask) | ((0x17u + size_class) & ~immediate_mask))));
const unsigned unused_bits = 64u - 8u * static_cast<unsigned>(length + is_immediate);
const std::uint64_t tail = is_little_endian ? byte_swap(argument) >> unused_bits : argument << unused_bits;
std::memcpy(out + 1, &tail, sizeof(tail));
return length + 1;
}
/*!
@brief write an array value (head and elements) as CBOR
Integer elements, the most common scalar, are written without a call to
@ref write_cbor. The loop is kept out of line: inlined into write_cbor, its
registers would be saved and restored on every call of write_cbor, which
is one call per value nested in an object.
*/
JSON_HEDLEY_NEVER_INLINE
void write_cbor_array(const BasicJsonType& j, const std::size_t depth)
{
write_cbor_head(0x80, j.m_data.m_value.array->size());
// Runs of integers are encoded straight into space reserved from the
// sink for a whole run: the write pointer stays a local, where it would
// otherwise be reloaded from the sink for every value, as a store of a
// character may alias it.
constexpr std::size_t max_run = max_reserve_size / cbor_integer_head_space;
auto it = j.m_data.m_value.array->begin();
const auto end = j.m_data.m_value.array->end();
while (it != end)
{
if (it->is_number_integer())
{
CharType* const start = oa.reserve(max_run * cbor_integer_head_space);
CharType* out = start;
for (std::size_t n = 0; n < max_run && it != end && it->is_number_integer(); ++n, ++it)
{
out += encode_cbor_integer(out, *it);
}
oa.commit(static_cast<std::size_t>(out - start));
}
else
{
write_cbor(*it, depth + 1);
++it;
}
}
}
/*!
@brief write a number_integer or number_unsigned value as a CBOR integer
A negative integer n has major type 1 and the argument -1 - n, which is ~n.
The sign and the type select the major type and the argument through a
mask rather than a branch, as they alternate unpredictably in an array of
mixed signs.
*/
void write_cbor_integer(const BasicJsonType& j)
{
oa.commit(encode_cbor_integer(oa.reserve(cbor_integer_head_space), j));
}
/// encode a number_integer or number_unsigned value to @a out (see
/// @ref write_cbor_integer) and return the number of characters
std::size_t encode_cbor_integer(CharType* out, const BasicJsonType& j) const noexcept
{
const bool is_signed = j.m_data.m_type == value_t::number_integer;
const std::uint64_t raw = is_signed
? static_cast<std::uint64_t>(j.m_data.m_value.number_integer)
: static_cast<std::uint64_t>(j.m_data.m_value.number_unsigned);
// All ones for a negative integer, else zero. Up to 64 bits, the sign is
// bit 63 of raw (a narrower integer is sign-extended); computing it
// with masks keeps GCC from branching on is_signed. A wider integer
// has to be compared.
const std::uint64_t sign_mask = sizeof(typename BasicJsonType::number_integer_t) <= sizeof(std::uint64_t)
? (std::uint64_t{0} - static_cast<std::uint64_t>(is_signed)) & (std::uint64_t{0} - (raw >> 63u))
: std::uint64_t{0} - static_cast<std::uint64_t>(is_signed && j.m_data.m_value.number_integer < 0);
// ~raw is -1 - n in the 64 bits that are written
return encode_cbor_integer_head(out, static_cast<std::uint8_t>(sign_mask & 0x20u), raw ^ sign_mask);
}
/// characters encode_cbor_integer_head() may overwrite: the first byte and
/// one 8-byte word
static constexpr std::size_t cbor_integer_head_space = 9;
/*!
@brief write an object key as a CBOR text string