Is 'switch' faster than 'if'?
Is a switch
statement actually faster than an if
statement?
I ran the code below on Visual Studio 2010's x64 C++ compiler with the /Ox
flag:
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#define MAX_COUNT (1 << 29)
size_t counter = 0;
size_t testSwitch()
{
clock_t start = clock();
size_t i;
for (i = 0; i < MAX_COUNT; i++)
{
switch (counter % 4 + 1)
{
case 1: counter += 4; break;
case 2: counter += 3; break;
case 3: counter += 2; break;
case 4: counter += 1; break;
}
}
return 1000 * (clock() - start) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC;
}
size_t testIf()
{
clock_t start = clock();
size_t i;
for (i = 0; i < MAX_COUNT; i++)
{
const size_t c = counter % 4 + 1;
if (c == 1) { counter += 4; }
else if (c == 2) { counter += 3; }
else if (c == 3) { counter += 2; }
else if (c == 4) { counter += 1; }
}
return 1000 * (clock() - start) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC;
}
int main()
{
printf("Starting...
");
printf("Switch statement: %u ms
", testSwitch());
printf("If statement: %u ms
", testIf());
}
and got these results:
Switch statement: 5261 ms
If statement: 5196 ms
From what I've learned, switch
statements apparently use jump tables to optimize the branching.
Questions:
What would a basic jump table look like, in x86 or x64?
Is this code using a jump table?
Why is there no performance difference in this example? Is there any situation in which there is a significant performance difference?
Disassembly of the code:
testIf:
13FE81B10 sub rsp,48h
13FE81B14 call qword ptr [__imp_clock (13FE81128h)]
13FE81B1A mov dword ptr [start],eax
13FE81B1E mov qword ptr [i],0
13FE81B27 jmp testIf+26h (13FE81B36h)
13FE81B29 mov rax,qword ptr [i]
13FE81B2E inc rax
13FE81B31 mov qword ptr [i],rax
13FE81B36 cmp qword ptr [i],20000000h
13FE81B3F jae testIf+0C3h (13FE81BD3h)
13FE81B45 xor edx,edx
13FE81B47 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81B4E mov ecx,4
13FE81B53 div rax,rcx
13FE81B56 mov rax,rdx
13FE81B59 inc rax
13FE81B5C mov qword ptr [c],rax
13FE81B61 cmp qword ptr [c],1
13FE81B67 jne testIf+6Dh (13FE81B7Dh)
13FE81B69 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81B70 add rax,4
13FE81B74 mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81B7B jmp testIf+0BEh (13FE81BCEh)
13FE81B7D cmp qword ptr [c],2
13FE81B83 jne testIf+89h (13FE81B99h)
13FE81B85 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81B8C add rax,3
13FE81B90 mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81B97 jmp testIf+0BEh (13FE81BCEh)
13FE81B99 cmp qword ptr [c],3
13FE81B9F jne testIf+0A5h (13FE81BB5h)
13FE81BA1 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81BA8 add rax,2
13FE81BAC mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81BB3 jmp testIf+0BEh (13FE81BCEh)
13FE81BB5 cmp qword ptr [c],4
13FE81BBB jne testIf+0BEh (13FE81BCEh)
13FE81BBD mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81BC4 inc rax
13FE81BC7 mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81BCE jmp testIf+19h (13FE81B29h)
13FE81BD3 call qword ptr [__imp_clock (13FE81128h)]
13FE81BD9 sub eax,dword ptr [start]
13FE81BDD imul eax,eax,3E8h
13FE81BE3 cdq
13FE81BE4 mov ecx,3E8h
13FE81BE9 idiv eax,ecx
13FE81BEB cdqe
13FE81BED add rsp,48h
13FE81BF1 ret
testSwitch:
13FE81C00 sub rsp,48h
13FE81C04 call qword ptr [__imp_clock (13FE81128h)]
13FE81C0A mov dword ptr [start],eax
13FE81C0E mov qword ptr [i],0
13FE81C17 jmp testSwitch+26h (13FE81C26h)
13FE81C19 mov rax,qword ptr [i]
13FE81C1E inc rax
13FE81C21 mov qword ptr [i],rax
13FE81C26 cmp qword ptr [i],20000000h
13FE81C2F jae testSwitch+0C5h (13FE81CC5h)
13FE81C35 xor edx,edx
13FE81C37 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81C3E mov ecx,4
13FE81C43 div rax,rcx
13FE81C46 mov rax,rdx
13FE81C49 inc rax
13FE81C4C mov qword ptr [rsp+30h],rax
13FE81C51 cmp qword ptr [rsp+30h],1
13FE81C57 je testSwitch+73h (13FE81C73h)
13FE81C59 cmp qword ptr [rsp+30h],2
13FE81C5F je testSwitch+87h (13FE81C87h)
13FE81C61 cmp qword ptr [rsp+30h],3
13FE81C67 je testSwitch+9Bh (13FE81C9Bh)
13FE81C69 cmp qword ptr [rsp+30h],4
13FE81C6F je testSwitch+0AFh (13FE81CAFh)
13FE81C71 jmp testSwitch+0C0h (13FE81CC0h)
13FE81C73 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81C7A add rax,4
13FE81C7E mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81C85 jmp testSwitch+0C0h (13FE81CC0h)
13FE81C87 mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81C8E add rax,3
13FE81C92 mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81C99 jmp testSwitch+0C0h (13FE81CC0h)
13FE81C9B mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81CA2 add rax,2
13FE81CA6 mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81CAD jmp testSwitch+0C0h (13FE81CC0h)
13FE81CAF mov rax,qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)]
13FE81CB6 inc rax
13FE81CB9 mov qword ptr [counter (13FE835D0h)],rax
13FE81CC0 jmp testSwitch+19h (13FE81C19h)
13FE81CC5 call qword ptr [__imp_clock (13FE81128h)]
13FE81CCB sub eax,dword ptr [start]
13FE81CCF imul eax,eax,3E8h
13FE81CD5 cdq
13FE81CD6 mov ecx,3E8h
13FE81CDB idiv eax,ecx
13FE81CDD cdqe
13FE81CDF add rsp,48h
13FE81CE3 ret
Update:
Interesting results here. Not sure why one is faster and one is slower, though.