Store vtables sorted in Rust builder (#6765)

* benchmark many vtables

* Rust: Store written_table rev-positions sorted.

The previous implementation was slow if there were too many tables.

Asymototically when inserting the n^th vtable: The old implementation
took O(n) lookup steps and O(1) insertion. The new implementation is
O(log n) lookup and O(n) insertion. This might be improved further by
using a balanced btree.

Benchmarking, create_many_tables is 7.5x faster (on my laptop):

// Simple vector cache
test create_many_tables ... bench: 728,875 ns/iter (+/- 12,279) = 44 MB/s

// Sorted vector cache
test create_many_tables ... bench: 97,843 ns/iter (+/- 4,430) = 334 MB/s

* Fix lints

Co-authored-by: Casper Neo <cneo@google.com>

rust/flatbuffers/src/builder.rs

@@ -554,42 +554,38 @@ impl<'fbb> FlatBufferBuilder<'fbb> {
             // serialize every FieldLoc to the vtable:
             for &fl in self.field_locs.iter() {
                 let pos: VOffsetT = (object_revloc_to_vtable.value() - fl.off) as VOffsetT;
-                debug_assert_eq!(
-                    vtfw.get_field_offset(fl.id),
-                    0,
-                    "tried to write a vtable field multiple times"
-                );
                 vtfw.write_field_offset(fl.id, pos);
             }
         }
-        let dup_vt_use = {
+        let new_vt_bytes = &self.owned_buf[vt_start_pos..vt_end_pos];
-            let this_vt = VTable::init(&self.owned_buf[..], self.head);
+        let found = self.written_vtable_revpos.binary_search_by(|old_vtable_revpos: &UOffsetT| {
-            self.find_duplicate_stored_vtable_revloc(this_vt)
+            let old_vtable_pos = self.owned_buf.len() - *old_vtable_revpos as usize;
-        };
+            let old_vtable = VTable::init(&self.owned_buf, old_vtable_pos);
-
+            new_vt_bytes.cmp(old_vtable.as_bytes())
-        let vt_use = match dup_vt_use {
+        });
-            Some(n) => {
+        let final_vtable_revpos = match found {
+            Ok(i) => {
+                // The new vtable is a duplicate so clear it.
                 VTableWriter::init(&mut self.owned_buf[vt_start_pos..vt_end_pos]).clear();
                 self.head += vtable_byte_len;
-                n
+                self.written_vtable_revpos[i]
             }
-            None => {
+            Err(i) => {
-                let new_vt_use = self.used_space() as UOffsetT;
+                // This is a new vtable. Add it to the cache.
-                self.written_vtable_revpos.push(new_vt_use);
+                let new_vt_revpos = self.used_space() as UOffsetT;
-                new_vt_use
+                self.written_vtable_revpos.insert(i, new_vt_revpos);
+                new_vt_revpos
             }
         };
-
+        // Write signed offset from table to its vtable.
-        {
+        let table_pos = self.owned_buf.len() - object_revloc_to_vtable.value() as usize;
-            let n = self.head + self.used_space() - object_revloc_to_vtable.value() as usize;
+        let tmp_soffset_to_vt = unsafe { read_scalar_at::<UOffsetT>(&self.owned_buf, table_pos) };
-            let saw = unsafe { read_scalar_at::<UOffsetT>(&self.owned_buf, n) };
+        debug_assert_eq!(tmp_soffset_to_vt, 0xF0F0_F0F0);
-            debug_assert_eq!(saw, 0xF0F0_F0F0);
+        unsafe {
-            unsafe {
+            emplace_scalar::<SOffsetT>(
-                emplace_scalar::<SOffsetT>(
+                &mut self.owned_buf[table_pos..table_pos + SIZE_SOFFSET],
-                    &mut self.owned_buf[n..n + SIZE_SOFFSET],
+                final_vtable_revpos as SOffsetT - object_revloc_to_vtable.value() as SOffsetT
-                    vt_use as SOffsetT - object_revloc_to_vtable.value() as SOffsetT,
+            );
-                );
-            }
         }
 
         self.field_locs.clear();
@@ -597,20 +593,6 @@ impl<'fbb> FlatBufferBuilder<'fbb> {
         object_revloc_to_vtable
     }
 
-    #[inline]
-    fn find_duplicate_stored_vtable_revloc(&self, needle: VTable) -> Option<UOffsetT> {
-        for &revloc in self.written_vtable_revpos.iter().rev() {
-            let o = VTable::init(
-                &self.owned_buf[..],
-                self.head + self.used_space() - revloc as usize,
-            );
-            if needle == o {
-                return Some(revloc);
-            }
-        }
-        None
-    }
-
     // Only call this when you know it is safe to double the size of the buffer.
     #[inline]
     fn grow_owned_buf(&mut self) {

rust/flatbuffers/src/vtable_writer.rs

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 use std::ptr::write_bytes;
 
-use crate::endian_scalar::{emplace_scalar, read_scalar_at};
+use crate::endian_scalar::emplace_scalar;
 use crate::primitives::*;
 
 /// VTableWriter compartmentalizes actions needed to create a vtable.
@@ -54,16 +54,6 @@ impl<'a> VTableWriter<'a> {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Gets an object field offset from the vtable. Only used for debugging.
-    ///
-    /// Note that this expects field offsets (which are like pointers), not
-    /// field ids (which are like array indices).
-    #[inline(always)]
-    pub fn get_field_offset(&self, vtable_offset: VOffsetT) -> VOffsetT {
-        let idx = vtable_offset as usize;
-        unsafe { read_scalar_at::<VOffsetT>(&self.buf, idx) }
-    }
-
     /// Writes an object field offset into the vtable.
     ///
     /// Note that this expects field offsets (which are like pointers), not

tests/rust_usage_test/benches/flatbuffers_benchmarks.rs

@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ fn blackbox<T>(t: T) -> T {
 
 #[inline(always)]
 fn traverse_serialized_example_with_generated_code(bytes: &[u8]) {
-    let m = my_game::example::get_root_as_monster(bytes);
+    let m = unsafe { my_game::example::root_as_monster_unchecked(bytes) };
     blackbox(m.hp());
     blackbox(m.mana());
     blackbox(m.name());
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ fn traverse_serialized_example_with_generated_code(bytes: &[u8]) {
 }
 
 fn create_string_10(bench: &mut Bencher) {
-    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::new_with_capacity(1 << 20);
+    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::with_capacity(1 << 20);
     let mut i = 0;
     bench.iter(|| {
         builder.create_string("foobarbaz"); // zero-terminated -> 10 bytes
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ fn create_string_10(bench: &mut Bencher) {
 }
 
 fn create_string_100(bench: &mut Bencher) {
-    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::new_with_capacity(1 << 20);
+    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::with_capacity(1 << 20);
     let s_owned = (0..99).map(|_| "x").collect::<String>();
     let s: &str = &s_owned;
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ fn create_string_100(bench: &mut Bencher) {
 }
 
 fn create_byte_vector_100_naive(bench: &mut Bencher) {
-    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::new_with_capacity(1 << 20);
+    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::with_capacity(1 << 20);
     let v_owned = (0u8..100).map(|i| i).collect::<Vec<u8>>();
     let v: &[u8] = &v_owned;
 
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ fn create_byte_vector_100_naive(bench: &mut Bencher) {
 }
 
 fn create_byte_vector_100_optimal(bench: &mut Bencher) {
-    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::new_with_capacity(1 << 20);
+    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::with_capacity(1 << 20);
     let v_owned = (0u8..100).map(|i| i).collect::<Vec<u8>>();
     let v: &[u8] = &v_owned;
 
@@ -240,6 +240,24 @@ fn create_byte_vector_100_optimal(bench: &mut Bencher) {
     bench.bytes = v.len() as u64;
 }
 
+fn create_many_tables(bench: &mut Bencher) {
+    let builder = &mut flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::with_capacity(1 << 20);
+    // We test vtable overhead by making many unique tables of up to 16 fields of u8s.
+    bench.iter(|| {
+        for i in 0..(1u16 << 10) {
+            let t = builder.start_table();
+            for j in 0..15 {
+                if i & (1 << j) == 1 {
+                    builder.push_slot_always(i * 2, 42u8);
+                }
+            }
+            builder.end_table(t);
+        }
+        builder.reset();
+    });
+    bench.bytes = 1 << 15;
+}
+
 benchmark_group!(
     benches,
     create_byte_vector_100_naive,
@@ -247,5 +265,6 @@ benchmark_group!(
     traverse_canonical_buffer,
     create_canonical_buffer_then_reset,
     create_string_10,
-    create_string_100
+    create_string_100,
+    create_many_tables,
 );

tests/rust_usage_test/tests/integration_test.rs

@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ fn test_object_api_reads_correctly() -> Result<(), &'static str>{
 // Disabled due to Windows CI limitations.
 // #[test]
 // fn builder_initializes_with_maximum_buffer_size() {
-//     flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::new_with_capacity(flatbuffers::FLATBUFFERS_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE);
+//     flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder::with_capacity(flatbuffers::FLATBUFFERS_MAX_BUFFER_SIZE);
 // }
 
 #[should_panic]