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Author SHA1 Message Date
Niels Lohmann 81bc423ead Add benchmarks for the binary readers
The benchmark suite covered parsing JSON text, dumping, and serializing to
CBOR, but only one binary read: FromMsgpack. Nothing measured from_cbor,
from_ubjson, from_bjdata or from_bson, so a change to binary_reader.hpp had
no baseline to be compared against.

Add read benchmarks for every format, in the two shapes that matter: from a
contiguous buffer, which is what most callers pass, and from a FILE*, which
is what FromMsgpack already measures and which compiles to different code.
FromMsgpack itself is left untouched so its numbers stay comparable across
releases. The input is derived at setup time by serializing a parsed test
file, because the test data repository ships JSON only.

The test files are wide and shallow, but the readers' cost is per container,
so add three value shapes they do not cover -- deeply nested containers, many
sibling containers, and one flat array of numbers -- plus an indefinite-length
CBOR string, a form the writer never emits and which therefore has to be
assembled by hand. UBJSON and BJData are also captured in their size- and
type-annotated form, which the readers handle in a separate code path.

BSON requires an object at the top level, so it cannot reuse the array-rooted
test files; it is captured on the object-rooted ones, and the shapes are
wrapped in an object so every format measures the same value. The setup marks
the benchmark as skipped rather than letting the exception escape if that
requirement is ever violated.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
2026-09-06 16:37:22 +02:00
4 changed files with 323 additions and 135 deletions
+2 -14
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@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class serializer
, thousands_sep(loc->thousands_sep == nullptr ? '\0' : std::char_traits<char>::to_char_type(* (loc->thousands_sep)))
, decimal_point(loc->decimal_point == nullptr ? '\0' : std::char_traits<char>::to_char_type(* (loc->decimal_point)))
, indent_char(ichar)
, indent_string()
, indent_string(512, indent_char)
, error_handler(error_handler_)
{}
@@ -126,10 +126,6 @@ class serializer
// variable to hold indentation for recursive calls
const auto new_indent = current_indent + indent_step;
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.empty()))
{
indent_string.resize(512, indent_char);
}
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.size() < new_indent))
{
indent_string.resize(indent_string.size() * 2, ' ');
@@ -203,10 +199,6 @@ class serializer
// variable to hold indentation for recursive calls
const auto new_indent = current_indent + indent_step;
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.empty()))
{
indent_string.resize(512, indent_char);
}
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.size() < new_indent))
{
indent_string.resize(indent_string.size() * 2, ' ');
@@ -268,10 +260,6 @@ class serializer
// variable to hold indentation for recursive calls
const auto new_indent = current_indent + indent_step;
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.empty()))
{
indent_string.resize(512, indent_char);
}
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.size() < new_indent))
{
indent_string.resize(indent_string.size() * 2, ' ');
@@ -1022,7 +1010,7 @@ class serializer
/// the indentation character
const char indent_char;
/// the indentation string (lazily allocated on first use by a pretty-print branch)
/// the indentation string
string_t indent_string;
/// error_handler how to react on decoding errors
+2 -14
View File
@@ -20150,7 +20150,7 @@ class serializer
, thousands_sep(loc->thousands_sep == nullptr ? '\0' : std::char_traits<char>::to_char_type(* (loc->thousands_sep)))
, decimal_point(loc->decimal_point == nullptr ? '\0' : std::char_traits<char>::to_char_type(* (loc->decimal_point)))
, indent_char(ichar)
, indent_string()
, indent_string(512, indent_char)
, error_handler(error_handler_)
{}
@@ -20205,10 +20205,6 @@ class serializer
// variable to hold indentation for recursive calls
const auto new_indent = current_indent + indent_step;
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.empty()))
{
indent_string.resize(512, indent_char);
}
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.size() < new_indent))
{
indent_string.resize(indent_string.size() * 2, ' ');
@@ -20282,10 +20278,6 @@ class serializer
// variable to hold indentation for recursive calls
const auto new_indent = current_indent + indent_step;
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.empty()))
{
indent_string.resize(512, indent_char);
}
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.size() < new_indent))
{
indent_string.resize(indent_string.size() * 2, ' ');
@@ -20347,10 +20339,6 @@ class serializer
// variable to hold indentation for recursive calls
const auto new_indent = current_indent + indent_step;
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.empty()))
{
indent_string.resize(512, indent_char);
}
if (JSON_HEDLEY_UNLIKELY(indent_string.size() < new_indent))
{
indent_string.resize(indent_string.size() * 2, ' ');
@@ -21101,7 +21089,7 @@ class serializer
/// the indentation character
const char indent_char;
/// the indentation string (lazily allocated on first use by a pretty-print branch)
/// the indentation string
string_t indent_string;
/// error_handler how to react on decoding errors
+319
View File
@@ -214,4 +214,323 @@ static void BinaryToCbor(benchmark::State& state)
}
BENCHMARK(BinaryToCbor)->RangeMultiplier(2)->Range(8, 8 << 12);
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// parse binary formats
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Only MessagePack had a read benchmark (FromMsgpack above, left untouched so
// its numbers stay comparable across releases). The benchmarks below cover the
// other formats, and read from a contiguous buffer as well as from a FILE*:
// most callers pass a container, and the two adapters compile to different
// code. The test data repository ships JSON only, so the input for each is
// derived at setup time by serializing a parsed test file.
/// binary format to benchmark; the _optimized variants add UBJSON/BJData size
/// and type annotations, which the readers handle in a separate code path
enum class binary_format
{
cbor,
msgpack,
ubjson,
ubjson_optimized,
bjdata,
bjdata_optimized,
bson
};
static std::vector<std::uint8_t> to_binary(const json& j, const binary_format format)
{
switch (format)
{
case binary_format::cbor:
return json::to_cbor(j);
case binary_format::msgpack:
return json::to_msgpack(j);
case binary_format::ubjson:
return json::to_ubjson(j);
case binary_format::ubjson_optimized:
return json::to_ubjson(j, true, true);
case binary_format::bjdata:
return json::to_bjdata(j);
case binary_format::bjdata_optimized:
return json::to_bjdata(j, true, true);
case binary_format::bson:
default:
return json::to_bson(j);
}
}
static json from_binary(const std::vector<std::uint8_t>& bytes, const binary_format format)
{
switch (format)
{
case binary_format::cbor:
return json::from_cbor(bytes);
case binary_format::msgpack:
return json::from_msgpack(bytes);
case binary_format::ubjson:
case binary_format::ubjson_optimized:
return json::from_ubjson(bytes);
case binary_format::bjdata:
case binary_format::bjdata_optimized:
return json::from_bjdata(bytes);
case binary_format::bson:
default:
return json::from_bson(bytes);
}
}
static json from_binary(std::FILE* file, const binary_format format)
{
switch (format)
{
case binary_format::cbor:
return json::from_cbor(file);
case binary_format::msgpack:
return json::from_msgpack(file);
case binary_format::ubjson:
case binary_format::ubjson_optimized:
return json::from_ubjson(file);
case binary_format::bjdata:
case binary_format::bjdata_optimized:
return json::from_bjdata(file);
case binary_format::bson:
default:
return json::from_bson(file);
}
}
/*!
@brief serialize a parsed test file to @a format
Returns an empty vector and marks the benchmark as skipped if the file cannot
be represented in the format, rather than letting the exception escape: BSON
requires an object at the top level, and several test files are arrays.
*/
static std::vector<std::uint8_t> binary_input(benchmark::State& state, const char* filename, const binary_format format)
{
std::ifstream f(filename);
std::string const str((std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(f)), std::istreambuf_iterator<char>());
const json j = json::parse(str);
if (format == binary_format::bson && !j.is_object())
{
state.SkipWithError("BSON requires an object at the top level");
return {};
}
return to_binary(j, format);
}
static void FromBinaryBuffer(benchmark::State& state, const char* filename, const binary_format format)
{
const std::vector<std::uint8_t> bytes = binary_input(state, filename, format);
if (bytes.empty())
{
return;
}
for (auto _ : state)
{
// the value is destroyed outside the timed section, because destroying
// a large DOM is not what this benchmark measures
state.PauseTiming();
auto* j = new json();
state.ResumeTiming();
*j = from_binary(bytes, format);
state.PauseTiming();
delete j;
state.ResumeTiming();
}
state.SetBytesProcessed(state.iterations() * bytes.size());
}
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, cbor / jeopardy, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/jeopardy/jeopardy.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, cbor / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, cbor / citm_catalog, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/citm_catalog.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, cbor / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, cbor / floats, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/regression/floats.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, cbor / signed_ints, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/regression/signed_ints.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, msgpack / jeopardy, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/jeopardy/jeopardy.json", binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, msgpack / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, msgpack / citm_catalog, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/citm_catalog.json", binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, msgpack / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, ubjson / jeopardy, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/jeopardy/jeopardy.json", binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, ubjson / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, ubjson / citm_catalog, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/citm_catalog.json", binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, ubjson / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, ubjson_optimized / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::ubjson_optimized);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, ubjson_optimized / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::ubjson_optimized);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bjdata / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::bjdata);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bjdata / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::bjdata);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bjdata_optimized / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::bjdata_optimized);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bjdata_optimized / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::bjdata_optimized);
// BSON requires an object at the top level, so the array-rooted test files
// (jeopardy and the regression files) cannot be captured here
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bson / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::bson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bson / citm_catalog, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/citm_catalog.json", binary_format::bson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryBuffer, bson / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::bson);
static void FromBinaryFile(benchmark::State& state, const char* filename, const binary_format format)
{
const std::vector<std::uint8_t> bytes = binary_input(state, filename, format);
if (bytes.empty())
{
return;
}
const char* tmp = "benchmark_input.bin";
std::ofstream o(tmp, std::ios::binary);
o.write(reinterpret_cast<const char*>(bytes.data()), static_cast<std::streamsize>(bytes.size()));
o.flush();
o.close();
for (auto _ : state)
{
state.PauseTiming();
auto* j = new json();
auto* file = std::fopen(tmp, "rb");
state.ResumeTiming();
*j = from_binary(file, format);
state.PauseTiming();
std::fclose(file);
delete j;
state.ResumeTiming();
}
state.SetBytesProcessed(state.iterations() * bytes.size());
}
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryFile, cbor / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryFile, cbor / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryFile, ubjson / canada, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/canada.json", binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryFile, ubjson / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryFile, bjdata / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::bjdata);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryFile, bson / twitter, TEST_DATA_DIRECTORY "/nativejson-benchmark/twitter.json", binary_format::bson);
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// parse binary formats: value shapes
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// The test files above are wide and shallow, but the readers' cost is per
// container, so these cover the shapes that stress the container handling
// itself. Every shape is wrapped in an object so that BSON, which requires an
// object at the top level, measures the same value as the other formats.
/// deeply nested arrays: one container per level, no other work
static json make_nested()
{
json nested = json::array();
json* p = &nested;
for (std::size_t i = 1; i < 1000; ++i)
{
p->push_back(json::array());
p = &p->operator[](0);
}
json j = json::object();
j["data"] = std::move(nested);
return j;
}
/// many sibling containers: maximum container churn, minimum nesting
static json make_containers()
{
json data = json::array();
for (std::size_t i = 0; i < 100000; ++i)
{
data.push_back(json::array({1, 2}));
}
json j = json::object();
j["data"] = std::move(data);
return j;
}
/// one flat array of numbers: the scalar decoding path, which must not move
static json make_scalars()
{
json data = json::array();
for (std::size_t i = 0; i < 1000000; ++i)
{
data.push_back(i);
}
json j = json::object();
j["data"] = std::move(data);
return j;
}
static void FromBinaryShape(benchmark::State& state, json (*build)(), const binary_format format)
{
const std::vector<std::uint8_t> bytes = to_binary(build(), format);
for (auto _ : state)
{
state.PauseTiming();
auto* j = new json();
state.ResumeTiming();
*j = from_binary(bytes, format);
state.PauseTiming();
delete j;
state.ResumeTiming();
}
state.SetBytesProcessed(state.iterations() * bytes.size());
}
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, nested / cbor, make_nested, binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, nested / msgpack, make_nested, binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, nested / ubjson, make_nested, binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, nested / bjdata, make_nested, binary_format::bjdata);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, nested / bson, make_nested, binary_format::bson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, containers / cbor, make_containers, binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, containers / msgpack, make_containers, binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, containers / ubjson, make_containers, binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, containers / ubjson_optimized, make_containers, binary_format::ubjson_optimized);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, containers / bjdata, make_containers, binary_format::bjdata);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, containers / bson, make_containers, binary_format::bson);
// BSON names every array element, so a large array measures key generation
// rather than scalar decoding and is left out here
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, scalars / cbor, make_scalars, binary_format::cbor);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, scalars / msgpack, make_scalars, binary_format::msgpack);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, scalars / ubjson, make_scalars, binary_format::ubjson);
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromBinaryShape, scalars / bjdata, make_scalars, binary_format::bjdata);
/*!
@brief parse an indefinite-length CBOR string
The writer never emits this form, so the input is assembled by hand: 0x7F
opens the string, each chunk is a one-character string, and 0xFF closes it.
*/
static void FromCborChunkedString(benchmark::State& state, const std::size_t chunks)
{
std::vector<std::uint8_t> bytes;
bytes.reserve(2 * chunks + 2);
bytes.push_back(0x7F);
for (std::size_t i = 0; i < chunks; ++i)
{
bytes.push_back(0x61); // string of length 1
bytes.push_back(0x61); // 'a'
}
bytes.push_back(0xFF);
for (auto _ : state)
{
json j = json::from_cbor(bytes);
benchmark::DoNotOptimize(j);
}
state.SetBytesProcessed(state.iterations() * bytes.size());
}
BENCHMARK_CAPTURE(FromCborChunkedString, 10000 chunks, 10000);
BENCHMARK_MAIN();
-107
View File
@@ -14,40 +14,6 @@ using nlohmann::json;
#include <array>
#include <sstream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <new>
namespace
{
// heap allocation counter used by the regression test for issue #5413
// (https://github.com/nlohmann/json/issues/5413); disabled (and thus a
// no-op besides the counting) unless explicitly toggled on
bool count_heap_allocations = false; // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
std::size_t heap_allocations = 0; // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-avoid-non-const-global-variables)
} // namespace
void* operator new (std::size_t size) // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory,misc-new-delete-overloads)
{
if (count_heap_allocations)
{
++heap_allocations;
}
if (void* ptr = std::malloc(size)) // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-no-malloc,cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory)
{
return ptr;
}
throw std::bad_alloc(); // NOLINT(hicpp-exception-baseclass)
}
void operator delete (void* ptr) noexcept // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory,misc-new-delete-overloads)
{
std::free(ptr); // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-no-malloc,cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory)
}
void operator delete (void* ptr, std::size_t /*size*/) noexcept // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory,misc-new-delete-overloads)
{
std::free(ptr); // NOLINT(cppcoreguidelines-no-malloc,cppcoreguidelines-owning-memory)
}
TEST_CASE("serialization")
{
@@ -416,76 +382,3 @@ TEST_CASE("dump for basic_json with long double number_float_t")
check_same(100.0L, 100.0);
}
}
TEST_CASE("regression test for issue #5413 - lazily allocated indent_string")
{
// the serializer used to unconditionally allocate a 512-byte
// indent_string in its constructor, even though it is only ever read
// inside the pretty_print branches of dump(). This wasted a heap
// allocation (and its matching deallocation) on every single compact
// (i.e. non-pretty, the default) dump() call. indent_string is now
// allocated lazily, the first time a pretty-print branch actually
// needs it -- so a compact dump() must perform strictly fewer heap
// allocations than a pretty dump() of the same value.
const json j = {{"level", "info"}, {"msg", "hello world"}, {"id", 12345}};
// warm up anything unrelated to indentation (e.g., one-time locale
// lookups) that might otherwise allocate on first use regardless of
// pretty-printing, so it does not skew the counts measured below
const auto warmup = j.dump();
const auto warmup_pretty = j.dump(4);
CHECK(!warmup.empty());
CHECK(!warmup_pretty.empty());
SECTION("compact dump() has a stable, minimal allocation count")
{
count_heap_allocations = true;
heap_allocations = 0;
const auto compact1 = j.dump();
const auto allocs_compact1 = heap_allocations;
heap_allocations = 0;
const auto compact2 = j.dump(-1);
const auto allocs_compact2 = heap_allocations;
count_heap_allocations = false;
CHECK(compact1 == compact2);
// dump() and dump(-1) both take the compact code path and must
// never touch indent_string, so they allocate identically often
CHECK(allocs_compact1 == allocs_compact2);
}
SECTION("first pretty dump() allocates more than a compact dump()")
{
// use a tiny value whose compact ({"a":1}, 7 bytes) and pretty
// ({"a": 1} with 1-space indent, 11 bytes) serializations both stay
// well inside every common std::string small-string-optimization
// buffer (>= 15 bytes on libstdc++/MSVC STL, >= 22 on libc++), so
// building the result string itself causes no heap allocation
// either way -- isolating indent_string as the only thing that can
// possibly account for a difference in allocation count
const json tiny = {{"a", 1}};
count_heap_allocations = true;
heap_allocations = 0;
const auto compact = tiny.dump();
const auto allocs_compact = heap_allocations;
heap_allocations = 0;
const auto pretty = tiny.dump(1);
const auto allocs_pretty = heap_allocations;
count_heap_allocations = false;
CHECK(compact == "{\"a\":1}");
CHECK(pretty == "{\n \"a\": 1\n}");
// a fresh serializer is created per dump() call; the pretty branch
// lazily allocates indent_string on its first use, so it must
// allocate at least once more than the compact branch, which never
// touches indent_string at all
CHECK(allocs_pretty > allocs_compact);
}
}