Dependency between group or radiobuttons, best practices? - algorithm

Let's imagine that we have privacy options page in social network; two group of radio buttons.
Allow to post on wall p f c (groupA)
Allow to view wall p f c (groupB)
p = public
f = only friends
c = closed
It is obvious that there is a dependency between this groups of checkboxes. For example, we should automatically set groupA=c when groupB=c; viewing wall is closed, so wall comments form should also be closed and so on.
It is possible to solve this problem using numerous if's, but we will have very complex control structure as result.
Any good solution?
Thank you

You have 2 sets of permissions, and 'write' permissions should never be less restrictive than read.
If (0 - no access, 1- limited[friends only], 2 - public access), then after changing value in GroupB validating GroupA value may look like GroupA.value = (GroupA.value <= GroupB.value) ? GroupA.value : GroupB.value. GroupB - read permissions, GroupA - write permissions.

Define one bit-mask for viewing, and another bitmask for posting, with one bit in each for public and friends (closed simply means both bits are set to 0). A bit that's set to 1 allows access, and a bit that's set to 0 denies access.
AND the "post" bitmask with the "view" bitmask to ensure that all the bits that are cleared in the "view" bitmask are also cleared in the "post" bitmask.
In something like C or C++, this would look something like this:
unsigned view;
unsigned post;
enum { friends = 1, public = 2 };
view = friends;
post = friends | public; // create an invalid combination
post &= view; // correct the invalid combination;

You can also define the comparisions in a structure and check every entry in a function.
I mean something like that in C:
#define ACCESS_CLOSED 0
#define ACCESS_FRIEND 1
#define ACCESS_PUBLIC 2
typedef struct dep {
int *master;
int masterval;
int *slave;
int slaveval;
} dep_t;
int checkdeps(dep_t *deps, int n)
{
int i;
for (i=0; i<n; i++) {
if (*(deps[i].master) == deps[i].masterval)
*(deps[i].slave) = deps[i].slaveval;
}
}
int main(void)
{
int groupA = ACCESS_FRIEND;
int groupB = ACCESS_FRIEND;
int groupC = ACCESS_FRIEND;
// if the first argument has the value of the second argument
// then the third is set to the value from the fourth
dep_t deps[] = {
{ &groupB, ACCESS_CLOSED, &groupA, ACCESS_CLOSED },
{ &groupB, ACCESS_FRIEND, &groupC, ACCESS_CLOSED }
};
groupB = ACCESS_CLOSED;
checkdeps(deps, sizeof(deps)/sizeof(dep_t));
printf("A: %d, B: %d, C: %d\n", groupA, groupB, groupC);
return 0;
}

Related

Insert a map into other map with a unique type key (2)

hello guys i am new to maps in C++ i am having a question regarding copying a particular type map to another map of same kind the details are shown below
I initially declared a map like this
map<string,int> objmap,obj_porcess ;
for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
objmap ["process"+to_string(i)]=i+10//some processing the to_string is just in case but i have strings with names for all 10 values
}
like
objmap["process_today"]=1;
objmap["process_yesterday"]=-1;
objmap["process_tommorow"]=2;
now i want to define some thing like this just my key word should be added with the process and remaining all can be same for all the keys from obj_process
obj_process["today"]=objmap["process_today"] ;
instead of defining all 10 can i have a simple code cause in here i took an example of 10 but i have like 200 set of different strings in the key of map
i already asked a qn for exact opposite one this was my previous qn now when i try its vice versa i got an issue hope i find some help
If you can initialize both at the same time, the solution is straightforward:
const std::vector<std::string> days = {"today", "yesterday", /*...*/};
for(const auto& d : days)
{
objmap["process_" + d] = foo();
obj_process[d] = foo();
}
If you cannot, you should be able to iterate over objmap and get rid of the "process_" prefix with some basic string manipulation:
constexpr auto prefix_length = 8; // length of "process_"
for (const auto& p : objmap)
{
const auto& key = p.first;
const auto& processed_key = key.substr(prefix_length);
obj_process[processed_key] = objmap[key];
}

node.js c++ addon - afraid of memory leak

first of all I admit I'm a newbie in C++ addons for node.js.
I'm writing my first addon and I reached a good result: the addon does what I want. I copied from various examples I found in internet to exchange complex data between the two languages, but I understood almost nothing of what I wrote.
The first thing scaring me is that I wrote nothing that seems to free some memory; another thing which is seriously worrying me is that I don't know if what I wrote may helps or creating confusion for the V8 garbage collector; by the way I don't know if there are better ways to do what I did (iterating over js Object keys in C++, creating js Objects in C++, creating Strings in C++ to be used as properties of js Objects and what else wrong you can find in my code).
So, before going on with my job writing the real math of my addon, I would like to share with the community the nan and V8 part of it to ask if you see something wrong or that can be done in a better way.
Thank you everybody for your help,
iCC
#include <map>
#include <nan.h>
using v8::Array;
using v8::Function;
using v8::FunctionTemplate;
using v8::Local;
using v8::Number;
using v8::Object;
using v8::Value;
using v8::String;
using Nan::AsyncQueueWorker;
using Nan::AsyncWorker;
using Nan::Callback;
using Nan::GetFunction;
using Nan::HandleScope;
using Nan::New;
using Nan::Null;
using Nan::Set;
using Nan::To;
using namespace std;
class Data {
public:
int dt1;
int dt2;
int dt3;
int dt4;
};
class Result {
public:
int x1;
int x2;
};
class Stats {
public:
int stat1;
int stat2;
};
typedef map<int, Data> DataSet;
typedef map<int, DataSet> DataMap;
typedef map<float, Result> ResultSet;
typedef map<int, ResultSet> ResultMap;
class MyAddOn: public AsyncWorker {
private:
DataMap *datas;
ResultMap results;
Stats stats;
public:
MyAddOn(Callback *callback, DataMap *set): AsyncWorker(callback), datas(set) {}
~MyAddOn() { delete datas; }
void Execute () {
for(DataMap::iterator i = datas->begin(); i != datas->end(); ++i) {
int res = i->first;
DataSet *datas = &i->second;
for(DataSet::iterator l = datas->begin(); l != datas->end(); ++l) {
int dt4 = l->first;
Data *data = &l->second;
// TODO: real population of stats and result
}
// test result population
results[res][res].x1 = res;
results[res][res].x2 = res;
}
// test stats population
stats.stat1 = 23;
stats.stat2 = 42;
}
void HandleOKCallback () {
Local<Object> obj;
Local<Object> res = New<Object>();
Local<Array> rslt = New<Array>();
Local<Object> sts = New<Object>();
Local<String> x1K = New<String>("x1").ToLocalChecked();
Local<String> x2K = New<String>("x2").ToLocalChecked();
uint32_t idx = 0;
for(ResultMap::iterator i = results.begin(); i != results.end(); ++i) {
ResultSet *set = &i->second;
for(ResultSet::iterator l = set->begin(); l != set->end(); ++l) {
Result *result = &l->second;
// is it ok to declare obj just once outside the cycles?
obj = New<Object>();
// is it ok to use same x1K and x2K instances for all objects?
Set(obj, x1K, New<Number>(result->x1));
Set(obj, x2K, New<Number>(result->x2));
Set(rslt, idx++, obj);
}
}
Set(sts, New<String>("stat1").ToLocalChecked(), New<Number>(stats.stat1));
Set(sts, New<String>("stat2").ToLocalChecked(), New<Number>(stats.stat2));
Set(res, New<String>("result").ToLocalChecked(), rslt);
Set(res, New<String>("stats" ).ToLocalChecked(), sts);
Local<Value> argv[] = { Null(), res };
callback->Call(2, argv);
}
};
NAN_METHOD(AddOn) {
Local<Object> datas = info[0].As<Object>();
Callback *callback = new Callback(info[1].As<Function>());
Local<Array> props = datas->GetOwnPropertyNames();
Local<String> dt1K = Nan::New("dt1").ToLocalChecked();
Local<String> dt2K = Nan::New("dt2").ToLocalChecked();
Local<String> dt3K = Nan::New("dt3").ToLocalChecked();
Local<Array> props2;
Local<Value> key;
Local<Object> value;
Local<Object> data;
DataMap *set = new DataMap();
int res;
int dt4;
DataSet *dts;
Data *dt;
for(uint32_t i = 0; i < props->Length(); i++) {
// is it ok to declare key, value, props2 and res just once outside the cycle?
key = props->Get(i);
value = datas->Get(key)->ToObject();
props2 = value->GetOwnPropertyNames();
res = To<int>(key).FromJust();
dts = &((*set)[res]);
for(uint32_t l = 0; l < props2->Length(); l++) {
// is it ok to declare key, data and dt4 just once outside the cycles?
key = props2->Get(l);
data = value->Get(key)->ToObject();
dt4 = To<int>(key).FromJust();
dt = &((*dts)[dt4]);
int dt1 = To<int>(data->Get(dt1K)).FromJust();
int dt2 = To<int>(data->Get(dt2K)).FromJust();
int dt3 = To<int>(data->Get(dt3K)).FromJust();
dt->dt1 = dt1;
dt->dt2 = dt2;
dt->dt3 = dt3;
dt->dt4 = dt4;
}
}
AsyncQueueWorker(new MyAddOn(callback, set));
}
NAN_MODULE_INIT(Init) {
Set(target, New<String>("myaddon").ToLocalChecked(), GetFunction(New<FunctionTemplate>(AddOn)).ToLocalChecked());
}
NODE_MODULE(myaddon, Init)
One year and half later...
If somebody is interested, my server is up and running since my question and the amount of memory it requires is stable.
I can't say if the code I wrote really does not has some memory leak or if lost memory is freed at each thread execution end, but if you are afraid as I was, I can say that using same structure and calls does not cause any real problem.
You do actually free up some of the memory you use, with the line of code:
~MyAddOn() { delete datas; }
In essence, C++ memory management boils down to always calling delete for every object created by new. There are also many additional architecture-specific and legacy 'C' memory management functions, but it is not strictly necessary to use these when you do not require the performance benefits.
As an example of what could potentially be a memory leak: You're passing the object held in the *callback pointer to the function AsyncQueueWorker. Yet nowhere in your code is this pointer freed, so unless the Queue worker frees it for you, there is a memory leak here.
You can use a memory tool such as valgrind to test your program further. It will spot most memory problems for you and comes highly recommended.
One thing I've observed is that you often ask (paraphrased):
Is it okay to declare X outside my loop?
To which the answer actually is that declaring variables inside of your loops is better, whenever you can do it. Declare variables as deep inside as you can, unless you have to re-use them. Variables are restricted in scope to the outermost set of {} brackets. You can read more about this in this question.
is it ok to use same x1K and x2K instances for all objects?
In essence, when you do this, if one of these objects modifies its 'x1K' string, then it will change for all of them. The advantage is that you free up memory. If the string is the same for all these objects anyway, instead of having to store say 1,000,000 copies of it, your computer will only keep a single one in memory and have 1,000,000 pointers to it instead. If the string is 9 ASCII characters long or longer under amd64, then that amounts to significant memory savings.
By the way, if you don't intend to modify a variable after its declaration, you can declare it as const, a keyword short for constant which forces the compiler to check that your variable is not modified after declaration. You may have to deal with quite a few compiler errors about functions accepting only non-const versions of things they don't modify, some of which may not be your own code, in which case you're out of luck. Being as conservative as possible with non-const variables can help spot problems.

using a union-like class in an std::initializer_list

In the code below I show union-like class S which contains two non-related structs B and C. I show how to instantiate the non-POD std::string and delete it again and then switch S to S::CC and set the num int.
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
struct B
{
B() {}
~B() {}
std::string str;
void Func1() {}
};
struct C
{
C() {}
~C() {}
int num;
void Func2() {}
};
struct S
{
S() { tag = CC; }
S( const S& s )
{
switch( s.tag )
{
case BB:
new ( &b.str ) std::string;
b.str = s.b.str;
break;
case CC:
c.num = s.c.num;
default:
break;
}
}
~S()
{
switch( tag )
{
case BB:
b.str.~basic_string< char >();
break;
case CC:
c.num = 0;
break;
default:
break;
}
}
enum { BB, CC } tag;
union
{
B b;
C c;
};
};
struct H
{
H( std::initializer_list< S > initializerList ) : initListVect( initializerList ) {}
std::vector< S > initListVect;
};
int main()
{
S s;
s.tag = S::BB;
new ( &s.b.str ) std::string; // docs say use new placement to create memory
s.b.str = "bbb";
s.b.str.~basic_string< char >(); // string usage in B ok
s.tag = S::CC;
s.c.num = 333; // int usage in C ok
H h { }; // what should the init list be if I wanted 3 list elements S::BB, S::CC, S::BB?
return 0;
}
My goal, however, is to use S in an std::initializer_list. I don’t know what the format should be for initializeing h. What should the arguments be if I wanted to initialize h with these S::BB, S::CC, S::BB?
My compiler is VS2015.
Edit:
This post’s history: my posting comes from a need for a definitive answer to the question of storing compile-time-deduceable heterogeneous objects in an std::initializer_list. This question has been asked many times before and there have been many attempts at answers (see Heterogeneous containers in C++). The most simplistic answer is to use polymorphism, but this ignores the power of being able to define a type at compile time (templates). Besides, heterogeneous, non-related objects grouped together polymorphically means a lot of derived data members are useless, which sows usage and maintenance confusion downstream. Other advice given was to use boost::any or boost::variant, but this has the same weakness as polymorphism and reduces message declaration clarity. Another attempt at container object heterogeneity was the use of std::tuple, but although an initializer_list can certainly contain tuples, this approach too ignores compile-time type resolution. I even found a paper written in 1999 called Heterogeneous, Nested STL Containers in C++ which uses template template arguments to solve the heterogeneity problem. After all this, I settled on class-like unions which led to my posting here. Class-like unions for non-related/heterogeneous container objects has perfect message declaration clarity, no object size ambiguity, and is compile time template-able, and it leads to excellent downstream maintenance scenarios.
Edit2: (5 weeks later) Here is what has happened. 1) I implemented a full class-like union solution given the advice in this posting. The result was tedious and unwieldy with ‘tag’ being used to identify which sub-method to call for each new functionality. Low grade regarding code maintenance. 2) c++17 has accepted std::variant. Since that is currently not yet implemented in VS2015 Update 2, I set about using boost::variant. See What is the right c++ variant syntax for calling a member function set to a particular variant? which uses the Visitor pattern to allow access to initialized variant members and member functions. This eliminates the ‘tag’ switches and variant ‘get’ calls. Bottom line: I dropped my class-like union and adopted variant for creating maintainable code that uses initializer_list to store variant member functionality all being initializable at compile time (read: highly maintainable).
Alright, I'm feeling generous and I've made custom unions myself so he're some stuff that'll get you set up. I've rewritten your S structure to be more compliant and usable. (I've made changes marked by comments)
struct S
{
S() : tag(CC) // initializer
{
new (&c) C; // make C object
}
S(int num) : tag(CC) // added integer constructor
{
new (&c) C;
c.num = num;
}
S(const std::string& str) : tag(BB) // added string constructor
{
new (&b) B;
b.str = str;
}
S( const S& s ) : tag(s.tag)
{
if (tag == CC)
{
new (&c) C; // construct c
c.num = s.c.num;
}
else if (tag == BB)
{
new (&b) B; // construct b, not b.str
b.str = s.b.str;
}
}
S& operator= (const S& s) // added assignment operator
{
if (tag == s.tag) // just copy b or c
{
if (tag == CC)
c = s.c;
else
b = s.b;
}
else // reconstruct b or c
{
if (tag == CC)
{
c.~C(); // destroy c
new (&b) B; // construct b
b.str = s.b.str;
}
else
{
b.~B(); // destroy b
new (&c) C; // construct c
c.num = s.c.num;
}
tag = s.tag;
}
return *this;
}
~S()
{
if (tag == CC)
{
c.~C(); // destroy c
}
else if (tag == BB)
{
b.~B(); // destroy b, not b.str
}
}
enum { BB, CC } tag;
union
{
B b;
C c;
};
};
One of the things that you were doing improperly was skipping the construction and destruction of B and C and going straight for the internal variables. You should always create and destroy types properly even when they may be trivial. While this may work out, not initializing these objects properly is only asking for trouble (It also makes it easier should you change B or C in the future).
To make using the class easier, I added in the proper constructors for std::string and int as well as an assignment operator. Because now that we can construct the objects how we want, your main() could look like this:
int main()
{
S s; // default S
s = std::string("bbb"); // set to string
s = 333; // set to number
// use initialization list
H h { std::string("bb"), 33, std::string("bb") };
return 0;
}
I encourage you to modify B and C to use constructors to build their internals rather than relying on S.

Swift Dictionary slow even with optimizations: doing uncessary retain/release?

The following code, which maps simple value holders to booleans, runs over 20x faster in Java than Swift 2 - XCode 7 beta3, "Fastest, Aggressive Optimizations [-Ofast]", and "Fast, Whole Module Optimizations" turned on. I can get over 280M lookups/sec in Java but only about 10M in Swift.
When I look at it in Instruments I see that most of the time is going into a pair of retain/release calls associated with the map lookup. Any suggestions on why this is happening or a workaround would be appreciated.
The structure of the code is a simplified version of my real code, which has a more complex key class and also stores other types (though Boolean is an actual case for me). Also, note that I am using a single mutable key instance for the retrieval to avoid allocating objects inside the loop and according to my tests this is faster in Swift than an immutable key.
EDIT: I have also tried switching to NSMutableDictionary but when used with Swift objects as keys it seems to be terribly slow.
EDIT2: I have tried implementing the test in objc (which wouldn't have the Optional unwrapping overhead) and it is faster but still over an order of magnitude slower than Java... I'm going to pose that example as another question to see if anyone has ideas.
EDIT3 - Answer. I have posted my conclusions and my workaround in an answer below.
public final class MyKey : Hashable {
var xi : Int = 0
init( _ xi : Int ) { set( xi ) }
final func set( xi : Int) { self.xi = xi }
public final var hashValue: Int { return xi }
}
public func == (lhs: MyKey, rhs: MyKey) -> Bool {
if ( lhs === rhs ) { return true }
return lhs.xi==rhs.xi
}
...
var map = Dictionary<MyKey,Bool>()
let range = 2500
for x in 0...range { map[ MyKey(x) ] = true }
let runs = 10
for _ in 0...runs
{
let time = Time()
let reps = 10000
let key = MyKey(0)
for _ in 0...reps {
for x in 0...range {
key.set(x)
if ( map[ key ] == nil ) { XCTAssertTrue(false) }
}
}
print("rate=\(time.rate( reps*range )) lookups/s")
}
and here is the corresponding Java code:
public class MyKey {
public int xi;
public MyKey( int xi ) { set( xi ); }
public void set( int xi) { this.xi = xi; }
#Override public int hashCode() { return xi; }
#Override
public boolean equals( Object o ) {
if ( o == this ) { return true; }
MyKey mk = (MyKey)o;
return mk.xi == this.xi;
}
}
...
Map<MyKey,Boolean> map = new HashMap<>();
int range = 2500;
for(int x=0; x<range; x++) { map.put( new MyKey(x), true ); }
int runs = 10;
for(int run=0; run<runs; run++)
{
Time time = new Time();
int reps = 10000;
MyKey buffer = new MyKey( 0 );
for (int it = 0; it < reps; it++) {
for (int x = 0; x < range; x++) {
buffer.set( x );
if ( map.get( buffer ) == null ) { Assert.assertTrue( false ); }
}
}
float rate = reps*range/time.s();
System.out.println( "rate = " + rate );
}
After much experimentation I have come to some conclusions and found a workaround (albeit somewhat extreme).
First let me say that I recognize that this kind of very fine grained data structure access within a tight loop is not representative of general performance, but it does affect my application and I'm imagining others like games and heavily numeric applications. Also let me say that I know that Swift is a moving target and I'm sure it will improve - perhaps my workaround (hacks) below will not be necessary by the time you read this. But if you are trying to do something like this today and you are looking at Instruments and seeing the majority of your application time spent in retain/release and you don't want to rewrite your entire app in objc please read on.
What I have found is that almost anything that one does in Swift that touches an object reference incurs an ARC retain/release penalty. Additionally Optional values - even optional primitives - also incur this cost. This pretty much rules out using Dictionary or NSDictionary.
Here are some things that are fast that you can include in a workaround:
a) Arrays of primitive types.
b) Arrays of final objects as long as long as the array is on the stack and not on the heap. e.g. Declare an array within the method body (but outside of your loop of course) and iteratively copy the values to it. Do not Array(array) copy it.
Putting this together you can construct a data structure based on arrays that stores e.g. Ints and then store array indexes to your objects in that data structure. Within your loop you can look up the objects by their index in the fast local array. Before you ask "couldn't the data structure store the array for me" - no, because that would incur two of the penalties I mentioned above :(
All things considered this workaround is not too bad - If you can enumerate the entities that you want to store in the Dictionary / data structure you should be able to host them in an array as described. Using the technique above I was able to exceed the Java performance by a factor of 2x in Swift in my case.
If anyone is still reading and interested at this point I will consider updating my example code and posting.
EDIT: I'd add an option: c) It is also possible to use UnsafeMutablePointer<> or Unmanaged<> in Swift to create a reference that will not be retained when passed around. I was not aware of this when I started and I would hesitate to recommend it in general because it's a hack, but I've used it in a few cases to wrap a heavily used array that was incurring a retain/release every time it was referenced.

Is my programming logic correct here?

const char IsPressed = 1; // 1
const char WasHeldDown = 2; // 10
const char IsFirstPress = 4; // 100
char* keystates[256];
Class::CalculateKeyStates()
{
for(int i = 0; i < 256; ++i)
{
if(this->IsDown(i))
{
keystates[i] |= IsPressed; // turn on
if(keystates[i] & WasHeldDown)
{
//keystates[i] |= IsFirstPress;
keystates[i] &= ~IsFirstPress; // turn off
}
else
{
keystates[i] |= WasHeldDown + IsFirstPress; // Turn on
}
}
else
{
keystates[i] = 0; // Turn ALL off
}
}
}
This function would be a member function of a class, Class. The other member function, IsDown, will return a true if the key in question is down and false if not.
Can you see any way of further improving this function?
Thanks
EDIT:
I will expand a bit as to what is done why. This is a modification of an bit of code that works through an array keyStates (which was a struct of three bools) setting IsPressed to false for all of the keys. then again setting Ispressed to the value of this->IsDown and then a third time looping through checking if the key had been held, if it has then its no longer the first press so set that to false. if it was not held down, then set first press to true and was held to true as well, so next time it is flagged as having been held.
EDIT2:
Added some comments to code and corrected one line
Personally, I would define the key-states as disjoint states and write a simple state-machine, thus:
enum keystate
{
inactive,
firstPress,
active
};
keystate keystates[256];
Class::CalculateKeyStates()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 256; ++i)
{
keystate &k = keystates[i];
switch (k)
{
inactive:
k = (isDown(i)) ? firstPress : inactive;
break;
firstPress:
k = (isDown(i)) ? active : inactive;
break;
active:
k = (isDown(i)) ? active : inactive;
break;
}
}
}
This is easier to extend, and easier to read if it gets any more complex.
You are always setting IsFirstPress if the key is down, which might not be what you want.
I'm not sure what you want to achieve with IsFirstPress, as the keystate cannot remember any previous presses anyways. If you want to mark with this bit, that it's the first time you recognized the key being down, then your logic is wrong in the corresponding if statement.
keystates[i] & WasHeldDown evaluates to true if you already set the bit WasHeldDown earlier for this keystate.
In that case, what you may want to do is actually remove the IsFirstPress bit by xor-ing it: keystates[i] ^= IsFirstPress

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