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Topic: Turning BB into ASM code (Read 1158 times) |
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Matt
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Turning BB into ASM code
« Thread started on: May 31st, 2013, 07:32am » |
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Ok. Really struggling here.
I'm not after direct answers, but I could use a few pointers.
This is the portion of code (slightly edited) that I want to change into MC.
Code:
FOR col%=0 TO Headers% - 1
lvitem%!0=13
lvitem%!4=line%
lvitem%!8=col%
lvitem%!20=!^detail$(col%)
lvitem%!24=LEN(detail$(col%))
lvitem%!32=line%
IF col% THEN
SYS "SendMessage", hlist%, &102E, line%, lvitem%
ELSE
SYS "SendMessage", hlist%, &1007, line%, lvitem%
ENDIF
NEXT
Now, I think I've managed to work out how to deal with basic variables: [^variable], and I can send the SYS commands using push. However, arrays are a complete mystery. I know that they are not stored in memory the same as variables, but I'm not sure how to access them or use a 'count' to work my way through the array.
Any pointers?
Matt
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admin
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #1 on: May 31st, 2013, 4:05pm » |
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on May 31st, 2013, 07:32am, Matt wrote:This is the portion of code (slightly edited) that I want to change into MC.
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Why? Given that it is presumably populating a list control it doesn't seem very likely that it would run much faster. Before contemplating conversion to assembler code I'd want to see the relevant extract from the Profiler report file to see exactly where the time is being spent. Perhaps you could list that so we can see the evidence on which you are basing your decision.
Richard.
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Matt
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #2 on: May 31st, 2013, 5:05pm » |
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I'm trying to load 10,000 dummy lines into the listview. I have three ways to do this.
1. A single pass through a large 2D array.
2. Line-by-line by 1D array.
3. Several passes through a smaller 2D array.
Ignore the third option as it turns out to be the worst of both.
Option 1 takes around 10 seconds to load the array and load the listview. However, it requires that I increas the available memory to at least 32MB. (+listview memory)
Option 2 takes around 90 seconds to load the listview, but it requires only a few bytes of memory. (+ listview memory)
The amount of memory is important as the number of lines in the listview is variable and could potentially be many times this. However, the time taken to list them is also important as listing just 10,000 should not take more than a few short seconds.
I've never seriously used the Profiler before as I never really had need for it or understood it. This is the listing for the selected code: (lvitem%!0 = 13 is set prior to loop)
Code:
17: 0.03 FOR col%=0 TO Headers% - 1
350: 0.68 lvitem%!4=line%
203: 0.39 lvitem%!8=col%
148: 0.29 lvitem%!20=!^detail$(col%)
126: 0.24 lvitem%!24=LEN(detail$(col%))
79: 0.15 lvitem%!32=line%
49: 0.09 IF col% THEN
9781: 18.94 SYS "SendMessage", hlist%, &102E, line%, lvitem% : REM LVM_SETITEMTEXT
23: 0.04 ELSE
9486: 18.37 SYS "SendMessage", hlist%, &1007, line%, lvitem% : REM LVM_INSERTITEM
4: 0.01 ENDIF
90: 0.17 NEXT
Hope you can glean some helpful info from this. It seems to me, having examined it now, that the majority of time is spent sending the items to the listview. Do you think there is a way of increasing this? (I ask with the intension of testing this myself, but your opinion would be useful.)
Matt
Edit:
Tried this, but got 'Address out of range' for lvitem% when loading assembler:
Code:
REM ASSEMBLER
LOCAL P%, L%, code%, opt%, lvset, lvinsert
DIM code% LOCAL 100, L% -1
FOR opt% = 9 TO 11 STEP 2
P% = code%
[OPT opt%
.lvset
push lvitem%
push line%
push &102E
push hlist%
call "SendMessage"
ret
.lvinsert
push lvitem%
push line%
push &1007
push hlist%
call "SendMessage"
ret
]
NEXT
REM end ASSEMBER |
| « Last Edit: May 31st, 2013, 5:31pm by Matt » |
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Michael Hutton
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #3 on: May 31st, 2013, 7:42pm » |
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Matt,
There is probably no real benefit in asm coding the SendMessage - as you may find out the delay is in Windows processing the messages not how fast you send them. There is no real way to speed this up. I know this because I have done exactly the same experimentation. Coding SYS calls will hardly ever result in a speed up unless you are using the SYS call to enter some user written routine and then only when in a very tight loop.
Write it all out in BASIC then profile it and find out what is causing the delay. Only then spend the time and effort to write the ASM code for the bits you might save time on.
Michael
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Matt
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #4 on: May 31st, 2013, 8:05pm » |
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Thanks Michael.
on May 31st, 2013, 7:42pm, Michael Hutton wrote:| Write it all out in BASIC then profile it and find out what is causing the delay. Only then spend the time and effort to write the ASM code for the bits you might save time on. |
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As before, the main delay seems to be SYS commands. If even MC will not help this, then I'll have to figure out some other way to do it. Perhaps going back to increasing the size of the available memory.
Matt
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admin
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #5 on: May 31st, 2013, 8:54pm » |
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on May 31st, 2013, 5:05pm, Matt wrote:| Hope you can glean some helpful info from this. |
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It confirms what I thought: converting to assembler code is unlikely to make much difference to the speed. You can usefully replace the SYS "SendMessage" with the numeric equivalent e.g. SYS SendMessage% (where the value is established using GetProcAddress during initialisation). That will avoid the 'lookup' overhead, but otherwise you might as well leave the code in BASIC I would have thought.
Richard.
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Matt
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #6 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 07:13am » |
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on May 31st, 2013, 8:54pm, Richard Russell wrote:You can usefully replace the SYS "SendMessage" with the numeric equivalent e.g. SYS SendMessage% (where the value is established using GetProcAddress during initialisation).
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I've put this at the front end of the program:
Code:
SYS "LoadLibrary", "User32.dll" TO u32%
SYS "GetProcAddress", u32%, "SendMessage" TO SendMessage%
However, SendMessage% contains zero, which results in an 'Address out of range' error when it's called.
Matt
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admin
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #7 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 08:43am » |
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on Jun 1st, 2013, 07:13am, Matt wrote:| However, SendMessage% contains zero, which results in an 'Address out of range' error when it's called. |
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Use this code:
Code: SYS "GetModuleHandle", "USER32" TO H%
SYS "GetProcAddress", H%, "SendMessageA" TO SendMessage%
Richard.
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Michael Hutton
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #8 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 3:21pm » |
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Although, using ASM code does have one advantage, especially in BB4W as there is no native multithreaded support, if you want to populate a large list view but want to go on and do something else in the meantime you could create a worker thread quite easily to send all the information and then wait for it to complete.
Michael
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Matt
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #9 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 5:12pm » |
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Thanks Richard.
on Jun 1st, 2013, 08:43am, Richard Russell wrote:Use this code:
Code: SYS "GetModuleHandle", "USER32" TO H%
SYS "GetProcAddress", H%, "SendMessageA" TO SendMessage%
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This does work now. However, it unfortunately only increases the speed by around 5%. It was worth a try.
Matt
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Matt
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #10 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 5:16pm » |
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Thanks Michael.
on Jun 1st, 2013, 3:21pm, Michael Hutton wrote:| Although, using ASM code does have one advantage, especially in BB4W as there is no native multithreaded support, if you want to populate a large list view but want to go on and do something else in the meantime you could create a worker thread quite easily to send all the information and then wait for it to complete. |
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At present, I'm struggling to cope with basic ASM without trying to do multithread, but thanks.
Matt
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Michael Hutton
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #11 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 6:39pm » |
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Here is some code to play with for filling out a ListView. Tomorrow I'll try to make it multithreaded for you . I have to go out now.
Code:
REM Demo of filling a ListView Control with Dummy Data
REM Install Libraries
INSTALL @lib$ + "WINLIB5"
REM!WC Windows Constants
LVIS_SELECTED = &2
LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH = &101E
LVSCW_AUTOSIZE = -1
LVS_REPORT = &1
REM Define lvitem and lvcolumn structures
DIM lvitem{mask%, \
\ iItem%, \
\ iSubItem%, \
\ state%, \
\ stateMask%, \
\ pszText%, \
\ cchTextMax%, \
\ iImage%, \
\ lParam%, \
\ iIndent% }
DIM column{mask%, \
\ fmt%, \
\ cx%, \
\ pszText%, \
\ cchTextMax%, \
\ iSubItem% }
column.mask% = 15 : REM LVCF_WIDTH | LVCF_SUBITEM | LVCF_FMT | LVCF_TEXT
REM Define the number of row and columns (includes 0)
MAXCOL% = 99
MAXROW% = 99
REM Create Dummy Data
DIM Data$(MAXCOL%, MAXROW%)
FOR col% = 0 TO MAXCOL%
FOR row% = 0 TO MAXROW%
Data$(row%,col%) = STR$(row%) + STR$(col%) + CHR$0
NEXT
NEXT
REM Create a list View
SYS "InitCommonControls"
hList% = FN_createwindow("SysListView32","",100,100,@vdu%!28,@vdu%!36,0,LVS_REPORT,0) : REM LVS_REPORT
REM Assemble our machine code routine
PROC_AssembleMachineCode
REM Insert the Headers of the list View
FOR C% = 0 TO MAXCOL%
head$ = STR$(C%) + CHR$0
column.cx% = 50
column.pszText% = !^head$
column.iSubItem% = C%
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, &101B, C%, column{} : REM LVM_INSERTCOLUMN
NEXT
REM Fill the list view with Dummy data in BB4W
T = TIME
REM FOR col% = 0 TO MAXCOL%
REM FOR row% = 0 TO MAXROW%
REM PROCaddtolist(row%, col%, Data$(row%,col%))
REM NEXT
REM NEXT
TT = TIME-T
PRINT TT
T = TIME
CALL FillListView
TT = TIME-T
PRINT TT
REM PROCReSizeColumns(LVSCW_AUTOSIZE)
END
REM **** PROCEDURES ****
DEF PROCaddtolist(R%, C%, text$)
text$ += CHR$0
lvitem.mask% = 13 : REM LVIF_TEXT | LVIF_STATE | LVIF_PARAM
lvitem.stateMask% = LVIS_SELECTED
lvitem.iItem% = R%
lvitem.iSubItem% = C%
lvitem.pszText% = !^text$
lvitem.cchTextMax% = LENtext$
REM lvitem.lParam% = I% : REM Must Write this parameter for sort to work
IF C% THEN
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, &102E, R%, lvitem{} : REM LVM_SETITEMTEXT
ELSE
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, &1007, R%, lvitem{} : REM LVM_INSERTITEM
ENDIF
ENDPROC
DEF PROCReSizeColumns(O%)
LOCAL I%
FOR I%=0 TO MAXCOL%
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH, I%, O%
NEXT
SYS "RedrawWindow", hList% , 0, 0, &101
ENDPROC
DEF PROC_AssembleMachineCode
LOCAL P%, L%, code%, opt%
DIM code% 500, L% -1
FOR opt% = 8 TO 10 STEP 2
P% = code%
[OPT opt%
.FillListView
mov esi, 0
.outerloop
mov edi, 0
.innerloop
mov edx, ^Data$(0,0)
mov ecx, esi
imul ecx, MAXCOL% + 1
add ecx, edi
imul ecx, 6
mov eax, [edx + ecx]
mov dword [^lvitem.mask%], 13 ;REM LVIF_TEXT | LVIF_STATE | LVIF_PARAM
mov dword [^lvitem.stateMask%], LVIS_SELECTED
mov dword [^lvitem.iItem%], edi
mov dword [^lvitem.iSubItem%], esi
mov dword [^lvitem.pszText%], eax
mov dword [^lvitem.cchTextMax%], 20 ;REM max text size
mov dword [^lvitem.lParam%], I% ;REM Must Write this parameter for sort to work
cmp esi,0
je insert
push lvitem{}
push edi
push &102E
push hList%
call "SendMessage"
jmp next
.insert
push lvitem{}
push edi
push &1007
push hList%
call "SendMessage"
.next
inc edi
cmp edi, [^MAXROW%]
jbe near innerloop
inc esi
cmp esi, [^MAXCOL%]
jbe near outerloop
ret
]
NEXT
ENDPROC
Michael
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admin
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #12 on: Jun 1st, 2013, 9:58pm » |
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on Jun 1st, 2013, 5:12pm, Matt wrote:| However, it unfortunately only increases the speed by around 5%. |
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5% is worth having, isn't it? There's no way you are ever going to be able to boost the performance by a large amount, without abandoning the List View altogether and writing your own faster replacement.
Richard.
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Matt
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #13 on: Jun 2nd, 2013, 04:45am » |
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on Jun 1st, 2013, 9:58pm, Richard Russell wrote:| 5% is worth having, isn't it? |
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Any increase is worth having, but I was hoping for a far higher one.
Quote:| There's no way you are ever going to be able to boost the performance by a large amount, without abandoning the List View altogether and writing your own faster replacement. |
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In the long run, that seems it might be the only way.
Thanks, though.
Matt
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Michael Hutton
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Re: Turning BB into ASM code
« Reply #14 on: Jun 2nd, 2013, 1:49pm » |
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Two things Matt, and I think this will just confirm what Richard has said. If your looking for performance a ListView is not the way to go, but what are you trying to do? Manipulate or view the data? If you you want to manipulate the data do it outside of the list view, if you are just viewing it there is no issue, however long the computer takes to fill it there is no way a human can read it faster.
If you are worried that the program stalls while it is loading the list view then look below as the solution is to create another thread to fill it while you can carry on with the main program. Just for fun I have got the main program to calculate and print out the digits of pi while the worker thread populates the ListView with the data, but I hope you see the important lines are the CreateThread and the WaitForSingleObject.
Does this provide a solution for you?
Code:
REM Demo of filling a ListView Control with Dummy Data
HIMEM = LOMEM + &1000000
MODE 8
REM Install Libraries
INSTALL @lib$ + "WINLIB5"
REM!WC Windows Constants
LVIS_SELECTED = &2
LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH = &101E
LVSCW_AUTOSIZE = -1
LVS_REPORT = &1
REM Define lvitem and lvcolumn structures
DIM lvitem{mask%, \
\ iItem%, \
\ iSubItem%, \
\ state%, \
\ stateMask%, \
\ pszText%, \
\ cchTextMax%, \
\ iImage%, \
\ lParam%, \
\ iIndent% }
DIM column{mask%, \
\ fmt%, \
\ cx%, \
\ pszText%, \
\ cchTextMax%, \
\ iSubItem% }
column.mask% = 15 : REM LVCF_WIDTH | LVCF_SUBITEM | LVCF_FMT | LVCF_TEXT
REM Define the number of row and columns (includes 0)
MAXCOL% = 599
MAXROW% = 599
REM Create Dummy Data
DIM Data$(MAXCOL%, MAXROW%)
FOR col% = 0 TO MAXCOL%
FOR row% = 0 TO MAXROW%
Data$(row%,col%) = STR$(row%) + STR$(col%) + CHR$0
NEXT
NEXT
REM Create a list View
SYS "InitCommonControls"
hList% = FN_createwindow("SysListView32","",100,100,400,400,0,LVS_REPORT,0) : REM LVS_REPORT
REM Assemble our machine code routine
PROC_AssembleMachineCode
REM Insert the Headers of the list View
FOR C% = 0 TO MAXCOL%
head$ = STR$(C%) + CHR$0
column.cx% = 50
column.pszText% = !^head$
column.iSubItem% = C%
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, &101B, C%, column{} : REM LVM_INSERTCOLUMN
NEXT
SYS "CreateThread", 0, 1024, FillListView, 0, 0, 0 TO hThread%
IF hThread% = 0 THEN ERROR,"Failed to create Thread 1."
REM Or you could do something like this Matt
REM I% = 0
REM REPEAT
REM I% += 1
REM PRINT TAB(0,0) "In the meantime I'm going to count to ";I%
REM SYS "WaitForSingleObject", hThread%, 1 TO R%
REM UNTIL R% = 0
f% = 12000
f% = (f% DIV 4) * 14
DIM f%(f%)
f%() = 2000
a% = 10000
e% = 0
FOR c% = f% TO 14 STEP -14
d% = 0
FOR b% = c% TO 1 STEP -1
d% *= b%
g% = b%*2-1
d% += f%(b%)*a%
f%(b%) = d% MOD g%
d% DIV= g%
NEXT
PRINT RIGHT$("000"+STR$(e% + d% DIV a%),4);
e% = d% MOD a%
SYS "WaitForSingleObject", hThread%, 1 TO R%
IF R% = 0 THEN EXIT FOR
NEXT
END
REM **** PROCEDURES ****
DEF PROCaddtolist(R%, C%, text$)
text$ += CHR$0
lvitem.mask% = 13 : REM LVIF_TEXT | LVIF_STATE | LVIF_PARAM
lvitem.stateMask% = LVIS_SELECTED
lvitem.iItem% = R%
lvitem.iSubItem% = C%
lvitem.pszText% = !^text$
lvitem.cchTextMax% = LENtext$
REM lvitem.lParam% = I% : REM Must Write this parameter for sort to work
IF C% THEN
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, &102E, R%, lvitem{} : REM LVM_SETITEMTEXT
ELSE
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, &1007, R%, lvitem{} : REM LVM_INSERTITEM
ENDIF
ENDPROC
DEF PROCReSizeColumns(O%)
LOCAL I%
FOR I%=0 TO MAXCOL%
SYS "SendMessage", hList%, LVM_SETCOLUMNWIDTH, I%, O%
NEXT
SYS "RedrawWindow", hList% , 0, 0, &101
ENDPROC
DEF PROC_AssembleMachineCode
LOCAL P%, L%, code%, opt%
DIM code% 500, L% -1
FOR opt% = 8 TO 10 STEP 2
P% = code%
[OPT opt%
.FillListView
mov esi, 0
.outerloop
mov edi, 0
.innerloop
mov edx, ^Data$(0,0)
mov ecx, esi
imul ecx, MAXCOL% + 1
add ecx, edi
imul ecx, 6
mov eax, [edx + ecx]
mov dword [^lvitem.mask%], 13 ;REM LVIF_TEXT | LVIF_STATE | LVIF_PARAM
mov dword [^lvitem.stateMask%], LVIS_SELECTED
mov dword [^lvitem.iItem%], edi
mov dword [^lvitem.iSubItem%], esi
mov dword [^lvitem.pszText%], eax
mov dword [^lvitem.cchTextMax%], 20 ;REM max text size
mov dword [^lvitem.lParam%], I% ;REM Must Write this parameter for sort to work
cmp esi,0
je insert
push lvitem{}
push edi
push &102E
push hList%
call "SendMessage"
jmp next
.insert
push lvitem{}
push edi
push &1007
push hList%
call "SendMessage"
.next
inc edi
cmp edi, [^MAXROW%]
jbe near innerloop
inc esi
cmp esi, [^MAXCOL%]
jbe near outerloop
ret
]
NEXT
ENDPROC
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