Re: std::map initialization - reserving hashtable size

From:
 James Kanze <james.kanze@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:58:47 -0000
Message-ID:
<1186055927.903983.96070@19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com>
On Aug 2, 1:57 am, nerdrak...@gmail.com wrote:

  I am using the map stl and is there a way I could specify the hash
table size in the map in the beginning - (similar to
vector.reserve(size) ).


std::map doesn't use a hash table, so it's not relevant.
std::map is a node based container, which means that each entry
is a separate allocation. Knowing the size up front couldn't
affect its performance.

Is there a way I could specify the entries at
the beginning.


Yes. Use the two iterator constructor. Something like:

    typedef std::map< int, int > Map ;

    struct MapInit
    {
        int key ;
        int value ;
                        operator Map::value_type() const
        {
            return Map::value_type( key, value ) ;
        }
    } ;

    MapInit const initTable[] =
    {
        { 1, 2 },
        { 3, 4 },
        // ...
    } ;

    Map myMap( begin( initTable ), end( initTable ) ) ;

(You'll need the usual begin and end function templates for
this:

    template< typename T, size_t N >
    T*
    begin( T (&array)[ N ] )
    {
        return array ;
    }

    template< typename T, size_t N >
    T*
    end( T (&array)[ N ] )
    {
        return array + N ;
    }

   Is there an implementation-independent hint that I could give to
map so that it performs better when I add more entries to it.


If you know where the element is to go, you can tell the map
that when you insert it. This can save a few comparisons.

--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:james.kanze@gmail.com
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