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Subject: Re: speed question

Author: Uri Blass

Date: 04:57:47 02/20/03

Go up one level in this thread


On February 20, 2003 at 07:43:29, Filip Tvrzsky wrote:

>On February 20, 2003 at 07:13:58, Uri Blass wrote:
>
>>On February 20, 2003 at 06:54:01, Filip Tvrzsky wrote:
>>
>>>On February 20, 2003 at 06:26:39, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>
>>>>On February 19, 2003 at 10:45:27, Dezhi Zhao wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On February 19, 2003 at 09:57:13, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On February 19, 2003 at 09:41:35, Dezhi Zhao wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On February 19, 2003 at 06:39:49, Uri Blass wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I try to do movei faster and there are things that are supposed to do it
>>>>>>>>slightly faster but for some reasons do it slower so I deleted them(Maybe it is
>>>>>>>>better if I ignore it because it is a compiler optimization noise but I do not
>>>>>>>>like to see the program slower even if it is only 0.1% slower).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Note that I do not use now compiler optimization except optimize for speed with
>>>>>>>>visual C++6.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Here is an example:
>>>>>>>>My function of adding pawn moves to the stack of moves get 2 numbers(from,to).
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I found that special functions to generate white moves one square forward,white
>>>>>>>>moves 2 pawns forward,black pawns one square forward,...helped me to do movei
>>>>>>>>faster.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Common sense say that now I do not need 2 numbers in my functions because
>>>>>>>>I always have to=from-8 in
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Here is my function.
>>>>>>>>to is always from-8 and the question is if I can take advantage of that fact.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>static void gen_quietblackslowpawns(int from,int to)
>>>>>>>>{
>>>>>>>>	gen_t *g;
>>>>>>>>	if (to<=7)
>>>>>>>>	{
>>>>>>>>		gen_promote(from,to);
>>>>>>>>		return;
>>>>>>>>	}
>>>>>>>>	g=&gen_dat[first_move[ply+1]++];
>>>>>>>>	g->m.b.from=(char)from;
>>>>>>>>	g->m.b.to=(char) to;
>>>>>>>>	g->m.b.promote=0;
>>>>>>>>	g->m.b.bits=16;
>>>>>>>>	#if MODE!=MODE_PERFT
>>>>>>>>	g->score = history[from][to];
>>>>>>>>	g->index=-10000;
>>>>>>>>    #endif
>>>>>>>>}
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I think you can get a little from that fact. It will save a few push and pop
>>>>>>>operations.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>By the way, if you really want to optimize this function, you should consider
>>>>>>>re-designing the b structure so that the move can be saved in a single write
>>>>>>>operation, instead of 4.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Thanks for the advise but how do I do it
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I have the same data structure as tscp here(Note that 90% of my code is
>>>>>>different than tscp but I copied part of it's data structures).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Here is my b structure
>>>>>>
>>>>>>typedef struct
>>>>>>{
>>>>>>	char from;
>>>>>>	char to;
>>>>>>	char promote;
>>>>>>	char bits;
>>>>>>}
>>>>>>move_bytes;
>>>>>>
>>>>>>typedef union
>>>>>>{
>>>>>>	move_bytes b;
>>>>>>	int u;
>>>>>>}
>>>>>>move;
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I can think about deleting the b and have something like
>>>>>>g->m.u=from+(to<<8)+(promote<<16)+bits<<24) but the question in that case is if
>>>>>
>>>>>yes. you can go this way. for this function, the last 2 items are simple
>>>>>constants anyways.
>>>>>
>>>>>>it is not going to do accesing the varaibles slower because there are places in
>>>>>>the code when I use bits and now I will need to use things like u>>24.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I have no idea about the price of these things so I cannot evaluate speed here.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Uri
>>>>>
>>>>>Not that complicated if you think it twice.  I do know the semantics of bits
>>>>>thare. However I assume it is a flag. If it is the case, you do not need to do a
>>>>>shift to make it flat. Consider testing the other way without shift operations:
>>>>>u & (16 << 24)
>>>>>So you can avoid shift operations in many cases. So you still gain something
>>>>>here.
>>>>>
>>>>>dzhao
>>>>
>>>>I try it at this moment(I do not know if it is going to make the code faster so
>>>>I saved the previous code).
>>>>
>>>>The problem is how to make my code readable at the same time.
>>>>
>>>>I deleted the m.u and m.b.from,m.b,to,...
>>>>and have only m that is an integer.
>>>>
>>>>I try to use some defines
>>>>
>>>>#define mfrom (m&63)
>>>>#define mto ((m>>8)&63)
>>>>#define mpromote ((m>>16)&63)
>>>>#define mbits ((m>>24)&63)
>>>>
>>>>It was not enough so I added the following defines
>>>>
>>>>#define gen_dat_i_mfrom (gen_dat[i].m&63)
>>>>#define gen_dat_i_mto ((gen_dat[i].m>>8)&63)
>>>>#define gen_dat_i_mpromote ((gen_dat[i].m>>16)&63)
>>>>#define gen_dat_i_mbits ((gen_dat[i].m>>24)&63)
>>>>
>>>>I see that it is not enough and I need the same for other varaibles that are of
>>>>the same type.
>>>>
>>>>I do not like it so I went back to my previous code
>>>>
>>>>Thanks in advance for advices.
>>>>
>>>>Uri
>>>
>>>Why do you not use inline functions? I think this is just the case to employ
>>>them.
>>>I have such a code in my engine:
>>>  inline unsigned char From(MOVE x) { return (unsigned char) ((x >> 8) & 0x77);
>>>}
>>>and so on.
>>>Filip
>>
>>I do not know how to use inline functions.
>>Note that I learned only C and not C++
>>Is it possible in C?
>>
>>I do not find the word inline in the index of the book (The C programming
>>Language).
>>
>>I get errors if I try to add the words inline before a function
>>
>>error C2054: expected '(' to follow 'inline'
>>or if I put inline before the '(' I get
>>
>>error C2061: syntax error : identifier 'inline'
>>
>>I also do not understand how inline function can help me to get rid of my
>>structure and to replace the tscp structure by a better structure.
>>
>>Uri
>
>Sorry, I have noticed your mention about Visual C++ compiler, so assumed using
>C++ language ... Of course you can't use inline functions in C. But I suppose
>you to learn little bit about this C++ feature and maybe few others. You don't
>need learn that OOP stuff, just how to use C++ like improved C.
>For C language is there another solution - macros with parametres:
>    #define bits(x) ((x>>24)&63)
>Now you can write simply bits(m) or bits(gen_dat[i].m) or whatever you want.
>Filip

Thanks

I used that trick in other defines but did not think to do it here.
I hope that it is going to help me.

Uri



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