Improve performance of the nc_reclaim_data and nc_copy_data functions.#2699
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WardF merged 3 commits intoUnidata:mainfrom Jun 7, 2023
Merged
Improve performance of the nc_reclaim_data and nc_copy_data functions.#2699WardF merged 3 commits intoUnidata:mainfrom
WardF merged 3 commits intoUnidata:mainfrom
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re: Issue Unidata#2685 re: PR Unidata#2179 As noted in PR Unidata#2179, the old code did not allow for reclaiming instances of types, nor for properly copying them. That PR provided new functions capable of reclaiming/copying instances of arbitrary types. However, as noted by Issue Unidata#2685, using these most general functions resulted in a significant performance degradation, even for common cases. This PR attempts to mitigate the cost of using the general reclaim/copy functions in two ways. First, the previous functions operating at the top level by using ncid and typeid arguments. These functions were augmented with equivalent versions that used the netcdf-c library internal data structures to allow direct access to needed information. These new functions are used internally to the library. The second mitigation involves optimizing the internal functions by providing early tests for common cases. This avoids unnecessary recursive function calls. The overall result is a significant improvement in speed by a factor of roughly twenty -- your mileage may vary. These optimized functions are still not as fast as the original (more limited) functions, but they are getting close. Additional optimizations are possible. But the cost is a significant "uglification" of the code that I deemed a step too far, at least for now. ## Misc. Changes 1. Added a test case to check the proper reclamation/copy of complex types. 2. Found and fixed some places where nc_reclaim/copy should have been used. 3. Replaced, in the netcdf-c library, (almost all) occurrences of nc_reclaim_copy with calls to NC_reclaim/copy. This plus the optimizations is the primary speed-up mechanism. 4. In DAP4, the metadata is held in a substrate in-memory file; this required some changes so that the reclaim/copy code accessed that substrate dispatcher rather than the DAP4 dispatcher. 5. Re-factored and isolated the code that computes if a type is (transitively) variable-sized or not. 6. Clean up the reclamation code in ncgen; adding the use of nc_reclaim exposed some memory problems.
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Fixed a small conflict, will merge as soon as the tests run. Might be a few, GitHub actions are currently running for another PR as well. Trying to get all caught up. |
WardF
approved these changes
Jun 6, 2023
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re: Issue #2685
re: PR #2179
As noted in PR #2179, the old code did not allow for reclaiming instances of types, nor for properly copying them. That PR provided new functions capable of reclaiming/copying instances of arbitrary types.
However, as noted by Issue #2685, using these most general functions resulted in a significant performance degradation, even for common cases.
This PR attempts to mitigate the cost of using the general reclaim/copy functions in two ways.
First, the previous functions operating at the top level by using ncid and typeid arguments. These functions were augmented with equivalent versions that used the netcdf-c library internal data structures to allow direct access to needed information. These new functions are used internally to the library.
The second mitigation involves optimizing the internal functions by providing early tests for common cases. This avoids unnecessary recursive function calls.
The overall result is a significant improvement in speed by a factor of roughly twenty -- your mileage may vary. These optimized functions are still not as fast as the original (more limited) functions, but they are getting close. Additional optimizations are possible. But the cost is a significant "uglification" of the code that I deemed a step too far, at least for now.
Misc. Changes