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C++ High Performance

Comparison with Runtime Polymorphism

Explore the distinction between runtime polymorphism and compile-time programming in C++. Understand how inheritance and virtual functions impact performance compared to compile-time techniques. Learn to use if constexpr for creating efficient generic functions, such as a type-safe generic modulus, enhancing your code’s flexibility and performance.

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Runtime polymorphism

As a side note, if we were to implement the with traditional runtime polymorphism, using inheritance and virtual functions to achieve the same functionality, the implementation would look as follows:

C++
struct AnimalBase {
  virtual ~AnimalBase() {}
  virtual auto speak() const -> void {}
};
struct Bear : public AnimalBase {
  auto roar() const { std::cout << "roar\n"; }
  auto speak() const -> void override { roar(); }
};
struct Duck : public AnimalBase {
  auto quack() const { std::cout << "quack\n"; }
  auto speak() const -> void override { quack(); }
};
auto speak(const AnimalBase& a) { 
  a.speak(); 
}

The objects have to be accessed using pointers or references, and the type is inferred at runtime, which results in a performance loss compared ...