Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics 2024.1.3

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dotnet add package Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics --version 2024.1.3                
NuGet\Install-Package Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics -Version 2024.1.3                
This command is intended to be used within the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio, as it uses the NuGet module's version of Install-Package.
<PackageReference Include="Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics" Version="2024.1.3" />                
For projects that support PackageReference, copy this XML node into the project file to reference the package.
paket add Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics --version 2024.1.3                
#r "nuget: Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics, 2024.1.3"                
#r directive can be used in F# Interactive and Polyglot Notebooks. Copy this into the interactive tool or source code of the script to reference the package.
// Install Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics as a Cake Addin
#addin nuget:?package=Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics&version=2024.1.3

// Install Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics as a Cake Tool
#tool nuget:?package=Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics&version=2024.1.3                

Overview

The module allows to define and compile intrinsic functions. They can be used in hardware-accelerated implementations of various performance-sensitive algorithms.

Example

Suppose we are trying to fix the performance bottleneck in the following algorithm:

class BitOperations
{
    // Returns the base 2 logarithm of a specified number.
    public static int Log2_Trivial(uint value)
    {
        int r = 0;
        while ((value >>= 1) != 0)
            ++r;
        return r;
    }
}

log<sub>2</sub> seems to be a trivial operation but it often becomes a serious bottleneck in path-finding or cryptographic algorithms. We can do better here if we switch to a table lookup:

class BitOperations
{
    // "Bit Twiddling Hacks" by Sean Eron Anderson:
    // http://graphics.stanford.edu/~seander/bithacks.html

    static readonly int[] m_Log2DeBruijn32 =
    {
         0,  9,  1, 10, 13, 21,  2, 29,
        11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 25,  3, 30,
         8, 12, 20, 28, 15, 17, 24,  7,
        19, 27, 23,  6, 26,  5,  4, 31
    };

    public static int Log2_DeBruijn(uint value)
    {
        // Round down to one less than a power of 2.
        value |= value >> 1;
        value |= value >> 2;
        value |= value >> 4;
        value |= value >> 8;
        value |= value >> 16;

        var index = (value * 0x07C4ACDDU) >> 27;
        return m_Log2DeBruijn32[index];
    }
}

Here are the execution times of all two implementations (lower is better):

Method Mean Error StdDev
Log2_Trivial 4.587 ns 0.0325 ns 0.0288 ns
Log2_DeBruijn 1.256 ns 0.0068 ns 0.0063 ns

This is a vast improvement over the previous version but we can do even better.

Meet the Intel 80386, a 32-bit microprocessor introduced in 1985. It brought the Bit Scan Reverse (BSR) instruction that does exactly the same what we want to achieve by Log2 using just a small fraction of CPU cycles.

Chances are that your machine runs on a descendant of that influential CPU, be it AMD Ryzen or Intel Core. So how can we use the low-level BSR instruction from high-level .NET?

This is why Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics class exists. It provides the ability to define an intrinsic implementation of a method with MachineCodeIntrinsicAttribute. Let's see how:

using Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class BitOperations
{
    // Use static constructor to ensure that intrinsic methods are initialized (compiled) before they can be used
    static BitOperations() => Intrinsics.InitializeType(typeof(BitOperations));

    static readonly int[] m_Log2DeBruijn32 =
    {
         0,  9,  1, 10, 13, 21,  2, 29,
        11, 14, 16, 18, 22, 25,  3, 30,
         8, 12, 20, 28, 15, 17, 24,  7,
        19, 27, 23,  6, 26,  5,  4, 31
    };

    // Define machine code intrinsic for the method
    [MachineCodeIntrinsic(Architecture.X64, 0x0f, 0xbd, 0xc1)]  // BSR EAX, ECX
    [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)]
    public static int Log2_Intrinsic(uint value)
    {
        value |= value >> 1;
        value |= value >> 2;
        value |= value >> 4;
        value |= value >> 8;
        value |= value >> 16;

        var index = (value * 0x07C4ACDDU) >> 27;
        return m_Log2DeBruijn32[index];
    }
}

Log2_Intrinsic method defines a custom attribute that provides a machine code for BSR EAX, ECX instruction. Machine code is tied to CPU architecture and this is reflected in the attribute as well.

Please note that besides using MachineCodeIntrinsicAttribute to define method intrinsic implementations, BitOperations class should use a static constructor to ensure that the corresponding methods are initialized (compiled) before they are called.

Here are the execution times of all three implementations (lower is better):

Method Mean Error StdDev
Log2_Trivial 4.587 ns 0.0325 ns 0.0288 ns
Log2_DeBruijn 1.256 ns 0.0068 ns 0.0063 ns
Log2_Intrinsic 1.038 ns 0.0660 ns 0.0947 ns

Log2_Intrinsic is a clear winner.

The intrinsic compiler may or may not apply machine code to a method depending on the current app host environment. When intrinsic is not applied, the original method implementation is used, thus providing a graceful, albeit less performant, fallback.

Commonly Used Types

  • Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.IntrinsicServices
  • Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.MachineCodeIntrinsicAttribute

Other Modules

Let's continue with a look at some other modules provided by Gapotchenko.FX:

Symbol ✱ denotes an advanced module.
Symbol ✱✱ denotes an expert module.

Or take a look at the full list of modules.

Product Compatible and additional computed target framework versions.
.NET net5.0 is compatible.  net5.0-windows was computed.  net6.0 is compatible.  net6.0-android was computed.  net6.0-ios was computed.  net6.0-maccatalyst was computed.  net6.0-macos was computed.  net6.0-tvos was computed.  net6.0-windows was computed.  net7.0 is compatible.  net7.0-android was computed.  net7.0-ios was computed.  net7.0-maccatalyst was computed.  net7.0-macos was computed.  net7.0-tvos was computed.  net7.0-windows was computed.  net8.0 is compatible.  net8.0-android was computed.  net8.0-browser was computed.  net8.0-ios was computed.  net8.0-maccatalyst was computed.  net8.0-macos was computed.  net8.0-tvos was computed.  net8.0-windows was computed.  net9.0 is compatible. 
.NET Core netcoreapp2.0 was computed.  netcoreapp2.1 is compatible.  netcoreapp2.2 was computed.  netcoreapp3.0 is compatible.  netcoreapp3.1 was computed. 
.NET Standard netstandard2.0 is compatible.  netstandard2.1 is compatible. 
.NET Framework net461 is compatible.  net462 was computed.  net463 was computed.  net47 was computed.  net471 is compatible.  net472 is compatible.  net48 was computed.  net481 was computed. 
MonoAndroid monoandroid was computed. 
MonoMac monomac was computed. 
MonoTouch monotouch was computed. 
Tizen tizen40 was computed.  tizen60 was computed. 
Xamarin.iOS xamarinios was computed. 
Xamarin.Mac xamarinmac was computed. 
Xamarin.TVOS xamarintvos was computed. 
Xamarin.WatchOS xamarinwatchos was computed. 
Compatible target framework(s)
Included target framework(s) (in package)
Learn more about Target Frameworks and .NET Standard.

NuGet packages (1)

Showing the top 1 NuGet packages that depend on Gapotchenko.FX.Runtime.CompilerServices.Intrinsics:

Package Downloads
Gapotchenko.FX.Numerics

The module provides hardware-accelerated operations for numeric data types.

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