Cpp11 pull requests to improve the integration of R and C++
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About
From cpp11 description: “Provides a header only, C++11 interface to R’s C interface. Compared to other approaches ‘cpp11’ strives to be safe against long jumps from the C API as well as C++ exceptions, conform to normal R function semantics and supports interaction with ‘ALTREP’ vectors.”
I have used cpp11 for two years right after I started learning C++ with no previous C/C++ knowledge. Now I have suggested the following changes to the codebase to improve the user experience and reduce the number of lines of code needed to perform common tasks. I excluded describing PRs that only relate to technical aspects or tests.
PRs
Convert logicals to integers and doubles
as_integers()
and as_doubles()
now understand logical inputs (#426).
Here is an example of something that returned an error before:
test_that("as_doubles(logicals)") { cpp11::writable::logicals y; for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) { y.push_back(i % 2 == 0); } cpp11::doubles i(cpp11::as_doubles(y)); expect_true(i[0] == 1.0); expect_true(i[1] == 0.0); expect_true(i[2] == 1.0); expect_true(i[3] == 0.0); expect_true(cpp11::detail::r_typeof(i) == REALSXP); }
Improving string vector performance for push_back and subscript assignment
I added refactors and test that translate into a push_back
that is closer to a 1:1 speed ratio than 1:4 compared to direct assignment (#430).
Previously, the push_back
was 4 times slower than direct assignment because of protections applied in cases when there is immediate assignment with no translation.
# A tibble: 14 × 6 expression len min mem_alloc n_itr n_gc <bch:expr> <int> <bch:tm> <bch:byt> <int> <dbl> 1 assign_cpp11_(n = len, 123L) 1000000 590.79ms 21.63MB 12 8 2 assign_rcpp_(n = len, 123L) 1000000 441.09ms 7.63MB 15 5 # A tibble: 3 × 6 expression len min mem_alloc n_itr n_gc <bch:expr> <int> <bch:tm> <bch:byt> <int> <dbl> 1 grow_strings_cpp11_(len, 123L) 1000000 462ms 23.63MB 7 13 2 grow_strings_rcpp_(len, 123L) 1000000 453ms 7.63MB 16 4 3 grow_strings_manual_(len, 123L) 1000000 438ms 23.63MB 8 12
Convert ordered and unordered C++ maps to R lists
Ordered and unordered C++ maps are converted to R lists now (#437).
Here is an example of something that was not possible before:
[[cpp11::register]] SEXP ordered_map_to_list_(cpp11::doubles x) { std::map<double, int> counts; int n = x.size(); for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) { counts[x[i]]++; } return cpp11::as_sexp(counts); }
Correctly set names for matrices
Previously, cpp11 ignored the column or row names nor allowed to define those from C++ side for a doubles_matrix
or integers_matrix
, except if it was converted to a SEXP
(#428).
Here is an example of the correction:
[[cpp11::register]] cpp11::doubles_matrix<> mat_mat_create_dimnames() { cpp11::writable::doubles_matrix<> out(2, 2); out(0, 0) = 1; out(0, 1) = 2; out(1, 0) = 3; out(1, 1) = 4; cpp11::writable::list dimnames(2); dimnames[0] = cpp11::strings({"a", "b"}); dimnames[1] = cpp11::strings({"c", "d"}); out.attr("dimnames") = dimnames; return out; }
Copy complex numbers, vectors or matrices from R to C++ and viceversa
Previously, I was passing complex numbers from R to C++ and viceversa by converting them to a list with the real part and the imaginary part expressed as the first and second vectors of the list. Now it is possible to pass them directly (#427).
Here is an example of something that was not possible before:
test_that("vector objects can be created, filled, and copied") { cpp11::writable::complexes v(2); v[0] = std::complex<double>(1, 2); v[1] = std::complex<double>(3, 4); cpp11::complexes vc = v; expect_true(v.size() == vc.size()); for (int i = 0; i < 2; ++i) { expect_true(v[i] == vc[i]); } }
Document functions with Roxygen directly in C++ scripts
In order to reduce clutter in my workflow, I added some code to be able to roxygenise directly in the cpp files rather than document the functions by separate (#440).
Here is an example of something that was not possible before:
#include "cpp11/doubles.hpp" using namespace cpp11; /* roxygen start @title Roxygenised x plus 1 @param x numeric value @description Dummy function to test roxygen2. It adds 1.0 to a double. @export @examples roxcpp_(1.0) roxygen end */ [[cpp11::register]] double roxcpp_(double x) { double y = x + 1.0; return y; }
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