I'm trying to implement a simple vector class which uses expression templates in order to avoid that expressions such as vector w = x + y + z are implemented inefficiently (the implementation would first produce a temporary vector to hold x + y and then produce another vector with the elements of z added in):
namespace math
{
template<class E>
class expression
{
public:
auto size() const {
return static_cast<E const&>(*this).size();
}
auto operator[](std::size_t i) const
{
if (i >= size())
throw std::length_error("");
return static_cast<E const&>(*this)[i];
}
operator E&() { return static_cast<E&>(*this); }
operator E const&() const { return static_cast<E const&>(*this); }
}; // class expression
template<typename T, class Allocator = std::allocator<T>>
class vector
: public expression<vector<T>>
{
private:
using data_type = std::vector<T, Allocator>;
data_type m_data;
public:
using value_type = T;
using allocator_type = Allocator;
using size_type = typename data_type::size_type;
using difference_type = typename data_type::difference_type;
using reference = typename data_type::reference;
using const_reference = typename data_type::const_reference;
using pointer = typename data_type::pointer ;
using const_pointer = typename data_type::const_pointer;
vector(size_type d)
: m_data(d)
{ }
vector(std::initializer_list<value_type> init)
: m_data(init)
{ }
template<class E>
vector(expression<E> const& expression)
: m_data(expression.size())
{
for (size_type i = 0; i < expression.size(); ++i)
m_data[i] = expression[i];
}
size_type size() const {
return m_data.size();
}
value_type operator[](size_type i) const { return m_data[i]; }
value_type& operator[](size_type i) { return m_data[i]; };
}; // class vector
namespace detail
{
template<typename T>
class scalar
: public expression<scalar<T>>
{
public:
using value_type = T;
using allocator_type = std::allocator<void>;
using size_type = typename std::allocator<T>::size_type;
using difference_type = typename std::allocator<T>::difference_type;
using reference = typename std::allocator<T>::reference;
using const_reference = typename std::allocator<T>::const_reference;
using pointer = typename std::allocator<T>::pointer;
using const_pointer = typename std::allocator<T>::const_pointer;
scalar(value_type value)
: m_value(value)
{ }
size_type size() const {
return 0;
}
operator value_type&() { return static_cast<value_type&>(*this); }
operator value_type const&() const { return static_cast<value_type const&>(*this); }
value_type operator[](size_type i) const { return m_value; }
value_type& operator[](size_type i) { return m_value; }
private:
value_type m_value;
}; // class scalar
template<class>
struct is_scalar : std::false_type { };
template<class T>
struct is_scalar<scalar<T>> : std::true_type { };
} // namespace detail
template<class E1, class E2, class BinaryOperation>
class vector_binary_operation
: public expression<vector_binary_operation<E1, E2, BinaryOperation>>
{
public:
using value_type = decltype(BinaryOperation()(typename E1::value_type(), typename E2::value_type()));
using allocator_type = std::conditional_t<
detail::is_scalar<E1>::value,
typename E2::allocator_type::template rebind<value_type>::other,
typename E1::allocator_type::template rebind<value_type>::other>;
private:
using vector_type = vector<value_type, allocator_type>;
public:
using size_type = typename vector_type::size_type;
using difference_type = typename vector_type::difference_type;
using reference = typename vector_type::reference;
using const_reference = typename vector_type::const_reference;
using pointer = typename vector_type::pointer;
using const_pointer = typename vector_type::const_pointer;
vector_binary_operation(expression<E1> const& e1, expression<E2> const& e2, BinaryOperation op)
: m_e1(e1), m_e2(e2),
m_op(op)
{
if (e1.size() > 0 && e2.size() > 0 && !(e1.size() == e2.size()))
throw std::logic_error("");
}
size_type size() const {
return m_e1.size(); // == m_e2.size()
}
value_type operator[](size_type i) const {
return m_op(m_e1[i], m_e2[i]);
}
private:
E1 m_e1;
E2 m_e2;
//E1 const& m_e1;
//E2 const& m_e2;
BinaryOperation m_op;
}; // class vector_binary_operation
template<class E1, class E2>
vector_binary_operation<E1, E2, std::plus<>>
operator+(expression<E1> const& e1, expression<E2> const& e2) {
return{ e1, e2, std::plus<>() };
}
template<class E1, class E2>
vector_binary_operation<E1, E2, std::minus<>>
operator-(expression<E1> const& e1, expression<E2> const& e2) {
return{ e1, e2, std::minus<>() };
}
template<class E1, class E2>
vector_binary_operation<E1, E2, std::multiplies<>>
operator*(expression<E1> const& e1, expression<E2> const& e2) {
return{ e1, e2, std::multiplies<>() };
}
template<class E1, class E2>
vector_binary_operation<E1, E2, std::divides<>>
operator/(expression<E1> const& e1, expression<E2> const& e2) {
return{ e1, e2, std::divides<>() };
}
template<class E, typename T>
vector_binary_operation<E, detail::scalar<T>, std::divides<>>
operator/(expression<E> const& expr, T val) {
return{ expr, detail::scalar<T>(val), std::divides<>() };
}
template<class E, typename T>
vector_binary_operation<E, detail::scalar<T>, std::multiplies<>>
operator*(T val, expression<E> const& expr) {
return{ expr, detail::scalar<T>(val), std::multiplies<>() };
}
template<class E, typename T>
vector_binary_operation<E, detail::scalar<T>, std::multiplies<>>
operator*(expression<E> const& expr, T val) {
return{ expr, detail::scalar<T>(val), std::multiplies<>() };
}
} // namespace math
I don't know how I need to deal with the expression member variables in vector_binary_operation. It would make sense to declare them as const references, cause the whole point of the code is to avoid unnecessary copies. However, if we write sum = a + b + c, we will end up keeping a reference to the temporary a + b. Doing sum[0] will call operator()[0] on that temporary. But that object was deleted after the previous line.
What should I do?
