When the final size of a collection is known before adding elements, use `reserve()` to preallocate memory capacity. This optimization eliminates multiple reallocations and copy operations during insertions, improving both performance and memory usage patterns. This is particularly beneficial in performance-critical code paths where collections are...
When the final size of a collection is known before adding elements, use reserve()
to preallocate memory capacity. This optimization eliminates multiple reallocations and copy operations during insertions, improving both performance and memory usage patterns. This is particularly beneficial in performance-critical code paths where collections are frequently constructed or modified.
// Inefficient approach - may cause multiple reallocations
std::vector<AnchorOffsetPair> collection;
for (const auto& anchorOffset : variableAnchorOffset) {
collection.emplace_back(anchorOffset);
}
// Optimized approach - single allocation
std::vector<AnchorOffsetPair> collection;
collection.reserve(variableAnchorOffset.size()); // Pre-allocate memory
for (const auto& anchorOffset : variableAnchorOffset) {
collection.emplace_back(anchorOffset);
}
Even for small collections, this practice improves code efficiency. For vectors that grow incrementally with push_back or emplace_back operations, each reallocation requires copying all existing elements to a new memory location, which becomes increasingly expensive as the collection grows.
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