by Akhil Nair
Introduction:
My main task involves adapting the remaining algorithms from this issue to C++ 20 by using the tag_invoke CPO mechanism to add the correct overloads for the algorithms as mentioned by the C++20 standard. It also involves adding ranges and sentinel overloads for these algorithms as well as ensuring that the base implementations support sentinels. I also added doxygen documentation for each overload.
We have managed to cover almost all algorithms thanks to previous contributions prior to the 2021 GSoC period from Giannis, Hartmut, Mikael and others as well as from Chuanqiu He and Karame for adapting the rotate/rotate_copy and adjacent_difference respectively.
Apart from the adaptation work, I have also created PRs adding the shift_left and shift_right algorithms (Issue #3706) and the ranges starts_with and ends_with algorithms (Issue #5381) and they’re currently under review.
Details:
Tag_invoke:
We render the old hpx::parallel overloads as deprecated and add new tag_fallback_dispatch overloads according to the function signatures specified in the C++ 20 standard using the tag_invoke CPO mechanism for dispatching the call to the correct overloads.
The segmented overloads for an algorithm use tag_dispatch and the normal parallel and container overloads use the tag_fallback_dispatch, so that all the overloads of the segmented overloads are preferred before falling back to the remaining parallel overloads.
Range and sentinel overloads:
C++ 20 introduced the ranges overloads for many of the algorithms and we have done the same for our algorithms, available in the hpx::ranges namespace.
We can pass a range as either a single range argument or by using an iterator-sentinel pair. The range overloads also make use of tag_fallback_dispatch for overload resolution.
Separating the segmented overloads:
For algorithms having segmented overloads, we add tag_dispatch overloads and remove the forward declarations in both files to seperate the segmented overloads completely from the parallel overloads.
Shift left and shift right algorithms:
Shift left and shift right algorithms have been added. They make use of reverse in the parallel implementations (anyone reading this in the future, feel free to attempt a more efficient parallel implementation if possible). Range and sentinel overloads for these algorithms have been added as well. Ranges starts_with and ends_with algorithms have been added too.
Other:
I’ve also been looking into the senders and receivers proposal and looking into the performance issues of the scan partitioner by trying to measure the execution time and scheduling of the various stages of the scan algorithm.
PR Details:
The following PRs have been merged as of writing this report :-
- lexicographical_compare
- uninitialized_move and uninitialized_move_n
- uninitialized_default_construct and uninitialized_default_construct_n
- uninitialized_value_construct and uninitialized_value_construct_n
- unitialized_copy and uninitialized_copy_n
- unitialized_fill and uninitialized_fill_n
- add deprecation warnings for v1.8
- exclusive_scan
- inclusive_scan
- transform_exclusive_scan
- transform_inclusive_scan
Open PRs currently under review :-
- add ranges starts_with and ends_with algorithms
- swap_ranges
- unique and unique_copy
- sort
- add shift_left and shift_right algorithms
- stable_sort
My experience:
My experience working with and being mentored by the STE||AR Group has been amazing. This being my second gsoc, I was looking for an organization that had both challenging and interesting work and a helpful and supportive community, and the STE||AR Group ticked off both of those boxes wonderfully.
Hartmut and Giannis were amazing mentors and have been very helpful. The weekly meetings with them and Auriane were very useful to keep track of the progress and get guidance on how to proceed. Thanks to Hartmut, Auriane and Mikael for reviewing my PRs. I’m also grateful for the help of other members of the community who were very helpful and responsive on the IRC chat.
Over the summer my understanding of C++ has definitely increased, though there is a LOT more to cover, although I’m sure continuing to work on HPX (and asking questions on the IRC) will help with that. Having access to and being able to ask questions to the community members who have such a deep understanding of the topics is a very valuable advantage of contributing to HPX.
I fully intend to continue working on HPX and with the STE||AR Group after GSoC is over and look forward to learning and working on more interesting stuff in the coming months.