NAME
Sort::XS - a ( very ) fast XS sort alternative for one dimension list
SYNOPSIS
use Sort::XS qw/xsort/;
# use it simply
my $sorted = xsort([1, 5, 3]);
$sorted = [ 1, 3, 5 ];
# personalize your xsort with some options
my $list = [ 1..100, 24..42 ]
my $sorted = xsort( $list ) or ixsort( $list )
or xsort( list => $list )
or xsort( list => $list, algorithm => 'quick' )
or xsort( $list, algorithm => 'quick', type => integer )
or xsort( list => $list, algorithm => 'heap', type => 'integer' )
or xsort( list => $list, algorithm => 'merge', type => 'string' );
# if you [ mainly ] use very small arrays ( ~ 10 rows )
# prefer using directly one of the XS subroutines
$sorted = Sort::XS::quick_sort( $list )
or Sort::XS::heap_sort($list)
or Sort::XS::merge_sort($list)
or Sort::XS::insertion_sort($list);
# sorting array of strings
$list = [ 'kiwi', 'banana', 'apple', 'cherry' ];
$sorted = sxsort( $list )
or sxsort( [ $list ], algorithm => 'quick' )
or sxsort( [ $list ], algorithm => 'heap' )
or sxsort( [ $list ], algorithm => 'merge' );
# use direct XS subroutines to sort array of strings
$sorted = Sort::XS::quick_sort_str( $list )
or Sort::XS::heap_sort_str($list)
or Sort::XS::merge_sort_str($list)
or Sort::XS::insertion_sort_str($list);
DESCRIPTION
This module provides several common sort algorithms implemented as XS. Sort can only be used on one dimension list of integers or strings.
It's goal is not to replace the internal sort subroutines, but to provide a better alternative in some specifics cases :
ALGORITHMS
Quicksort has been chosen as the default method ( even if it s not a stable algorithm ), you can also consider to use heapsort which provides a worst case in "n log n".
Choosing the correct algorithm depends on distribution of your values and size of your list. Quicksort provides an average good solution, even if in some case it will be better to use a different choice.
quick sort
This is the default algorithm. In pratice it provides the best results even if in worst case heap sort will be a better choice.
read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicksort for more informations
heap sort
A little slower in practice than quicksort but provide a better worst case runtime.
read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heapsort for more informations
merge sort
Stable sort algorithm, that means that in any case the time to compute the result will be similar. It's still a better choice than the internal perl sort.
read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mergesort for more informations
insertion sort
Provide one implementation of insertion sort, but prefer using either any of the previous algorithm or even the perl internal sort.
read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mergesort for more informations
perl
this is not an algorithm by itself, but provides an easy way to disable all XS code by switching back to a regular sort.
Perl 5.6 and earlier used a quicksort algorithm to implement sort. That algorithm was not stable, so could go quadratic. (A stable sort preserves the input order of elements that compare equal. Although quicksort's run time is O(NlogN) when averaged over all arrays of length N, the time can be O(N**2), quadratic behavior, for some inputs.)
In 5.7, the quicksort implementation was replaced with a stable mergesort algorithm whose worst-case behavior is O(NlogN). But benchmarks indicated that for some inputs, on some platforms, the original quicksort was faster.
5.8 has a sort pragma for limited control of the sort. Its rather blunt control of the underlying algorithm may not persist into future Perls, but the ability to characterize the input or output in implementation independent ways quite probably will.
use default perl version
METHODS
xsort
API that allow you to use one of the XS subroutines. Prefer using this method. ( view optimization section for tricks )
- list
-
provide a reference to an array if only one argument is provided can be ommit
my $list = [ 1, 3, 2, 5, 4 ]; xsort( $list ) or xsort( list => $list ) - algorithm [ optional, default = quick ]
-
default value is quick you can use any of the following choices
quick # quicksort heap # heapsort merge insertion # not recommended ( slow ) perl # use standard perl sort method instead of c implementation - type [ optional, default = integer ]
-
You can specify which kind of sort you are expecting ( i.e. '<=>' or 'cmp' ) by setting this attribute to one of these two values
integer # <=>, is the default operator if not specified string # cmp, do the compare on string
ixsort
alias on xsort method but force type to integer comparison same usage as xsort
sxsort
alias on xsort method but force type to string comparison same usage as xsort
quick_sort
XS subroutine to perform the quicksort algorithm. No type checking performed. Accept only one single argument as input.
my $list = [1, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5 ]
Sort::XS::quick_sort($list);heap_sort
XS subroutine to perform the heapsort algorithm. No type checking performed. Accept only one single argument as input.
my $list = [1, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5 ]
Sort::XS::heap_sort($list);merge_sort
XS subroutine to perform the mergesort algorithm. No type checking performed. Accept only one single argument as input.
my $list = [1, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5 ]
Sort::XS::merge_sort($list)insertion_sort
XS subroutine to perform the insertionsort algorithm. No type checking performed. Accept only one single argument as input.
my $list = [1, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5 ]
Sort::XS::insertion_sort($list);quick_sort_str
XS subroutine to perform quicksort on array of strings.
Sort::XS::quick_sort_str( [ 'aa' .. 'zz' ] );heap_sort_str
XS subroutine to perform heapsort on array of strings.
Sort::XS::heap_sort_str( [ 'aa' .. 'zz' ] );merge_sort_str
XS subroutine to perform mergesort on array of strings.
Sort::XS::merge_sort_str( [ 'aa' .. 'zz' ] );insertion_sort_str
XS subroutine to perform insertionsort on array of strings.
Sort::XS::insertion_sort_str( [ 'aa' .. 'zz' ] );OPTIMIZATION
xsort provides an api to call xs subroutines to easy change sort preferences and an easy way to use it ( adding minimalist type checking ) as it provides an extra layer on the top of xs subroutines it has a cost... and adds a little more slowness... This extra cost cannot be noticed on large arrays ( > 100 rows ), but for very small arrays ( ~ 10 rows ) it will not a good idea to use the api ( at least at this stage ). In this case you will prefer to do a direct call to one of the XS methods to have pure performance.
Note that all the XS subroutines are not exported by default.
my $list = [1, 6, 4, 2, 3, 5 ]
Sort::XS::quick_sort($list);
Sort::XS::heap_sort($list);
Sort::XS::merge_sort($list)
Sort::XS::insertion_sort($list);Once again, if you use large arrays, it will be better to use API calls :
xsort([5, 7, 1, 4]);
ixsort([1..10]);
sxsort(['a'..'z']);BENCHMARK
Here is a glance of what you can expect from this module : These results have been computed on a set of multiple random arrays generated by the benchmark test included in the dist testsuite.
Results are splitted in two parts : integers and strings. Here is a short definition for each label used for these benchmarks.
[ integers ]
* Perl : reference test with perl internal sort sub : sort { $a <=> $b } @array;
* API Perl : use native sort perl method thru API ; xsort(list => $array, algorithm => 'perl');
* API quick : use quicksort via API ; xsort($array);
* API quick with hash : use xsort method with additonnal parameters ; xsort(list => $array, algorithm => 'quick', type => 'integer');
* ikeysort : use ikeysort method from Key::Sort module ; ikeysort { $_ } @$array;
* XS heap : direct call to the xs method ; Sort::XS::heap_sort($array);
* XS merge : direct call to the xs method ; Sort::XS::merge_sort($array);
* XS quick : direct call to the xs method ; Sort::XS::quick_sort($array);
* void : a void sub used as baselineComparing "Perl" vs "API Perl" or "API quick" vs "XS quick" gives an idea of the extra cost of the API Perl and void bench are here as a baseline.
[ strings ]
* Perl : native perl sort method : sort { $a cmp $b } @array;
* API sxsort : use sxsort method ; sxsort($array);
* keysort : use keysort method from Key::Sort module ; keysort { $_ } @$array;
* XS heap : direct call to the xs method ; Sort::XS::heap_sort_str($array);
* XS merge : direct call to the xs method ; Sort::XS::merge_sort_str($array);
* XS quick : direct call to the xs method ; Sort::XS::quick_sort_str($array);Small arrays
Small arrays are arrays with around 10 elements. benchmark with 1000 arrays of 10 rows
[ integers ] Rate API quick with hash API Perl ikeysort API quick XS merge Perl XS heap XS quick void
API quick with hash 136/s -- -4% -38% -66% -73% -76% -77% -77% -81%
API Perl 142/s 5% -- -35% -64% -72% -75% -76% -76% -80%
ikeysort 220/s 62% 55% -- -44% -57% -62% -62% -63% -69%
API quick 394/s 190% 177% 79% -- -22% -31% -32% -33% -44%
XS merge 507/s 273% 256% 130% 28% -- -12% -13% -14% -28%
Perl 575/s 323% 304% 161% 46% 13% -- -1% -3% -18%
heap 581/s 328% 309% 164% 47% 15% 1% -- -2% -17%
XS quick 592/s 336% 316% 169% 50% 17% 3% 2% -- -16%
void 701/s 416% 393% 219% 78% 38% 22% 21% 18% --
[ sting ] Rate API sxsort keysort Perl XS merge XS heap XS quick
API sxsort 106/s -- -8% -59% -59% -62% -63%
keysort 116/s 9% -- -55% -55% -58% -60%
Perl 260/s 145% 124% -- -0% -7% -10%
XS merge 260/s 145% 124% 0% -- -7% -10%
XS heap 278/s 162% 140% 7% 7% -- -4%
XS quick 289/s 172% 149% 11% 11% 4% --Medium arrays
A mixed of arrays with 10, 100 and 1000 rows. ( 10 arrays of each size, maybe this should match most common usages ? ).
[ integers ] Rate ikeysort API Perl Perl XS merge heap API quick with hash API quick XS quick void
ikeysort 224/s -- -49% -53% -57% -61% -63% -66% -67% -85%
API Perl 439/s 96% -- -7% -16% -24% -27% -34% -34% -70%
Perl 475/s 112% 8% -- -9% -18% -21% -29% -29% -68%
XS merge 523/s 133% 19% 10% -- -10% -13% -22% -22% -65%
heap 580/s 158% 32% 22% 11% -- -4% -13% -14% -61%
API quick with hash 602/s 168% 37% 27% 15% 4% -- -10% -10% -59%
API quick 669/s 198% 52% 41% 28% 16% 11% -- -0% -55%
XS quick 670/s 199% 53% 41% 28% 16% 11% 0% -- -55%
void 1477/s 558% 236% 211% 182% 155% 145% 121% 120% --
[ sting ] Rate keysort API sxsort Perl XS heap XS merge XS quick
keysort 770/s -- -47% -48% -57% -57% -62%
API sxsort 1450/s 88% -- -2% -19% -20% -28%
Perl 1476/s 92% 2% -- -18% -18% -27%
XS heap 1790/s 132% 23% 21% -- -1% -11%
XS merge 1806/s 135% 25% 22% 1% -- -10%
XS quick 2017/s 162% 39% 37% 13% 12% --Large arrays
A set of 10 random arrays of 100.000 rows.
[ integers ] Rate ikeysort Perl API Perl XS merge XS heap XS quick API quick with hash API quick void
ikeysort 1.94/s -- -35% -36% -53% -56% -66% -66% -66% -89%
Perl 2.99/s 54% -- -2% -27% -32% -47% -47% -47% -82%
API Perl 3.04/s 57% 2% -- -26% -30% -46% -46% -47% -82%
XS merge 4.13/s 113% 38% 36% -- -6% -27% -27% -27% -76%
heap 4.37/s 126% 46% 44% 6% -- -22% -23% -23% -74%
XS quick 5.62/s 190% 88% 85% 36% 28% -- -1% -1% -67%
API quick with hash 5.65/s 192% 89% 86% 37% 29% 1% -- -1% -66%
API quick 5.69/s 193% 90% 87% 38% 30% 1% 1% -- -66%
void 16.9/s 770% 463% 454% 309% 286% 200% 198% 197% --
[ sting ] Rate keysort Perl XS heap XS merge XS quick API sxsort
keysort 0.683/s -- -39% -54% -64% -67% -67%
Perl 1.12/s 64% -- -25% -40% -45% -46%
XS heap 1.49/s 118% 33% -- -21% -27% -28%
XS merge 1.88/s 175% 68% 26% -- -8% -9%
XS quick 2.04/s 199% 82% 37% 9% -- -1%
API sxsort 2.06/s 201% 84% 39% 10% 1% --CONTRIBUTE
You can contribute to this project via GitHub : https://github.com/atoomic/Sort-XS
TODO
Implementation of float comparison... At this time only implement sort of integers and strings
Improve API performance for small set of arrays : could use enum and array to speedup API. C algorithms can be also tuned.
AUTHOR
Nicolas R., <me@eboxr.com>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2011 by eboxr.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.