I recently discovered std::optional
as a way to improve the clarity of my code, especially for return value of functions. However I had questions about its impact on performance. More specifically I wanted to know if it was possible to write a code similar to the one below that would allow the compiler to apply Named Return Value Optimization.
struct Data
{
int x;
int y;
};
std::optional<Data> makeData(bool condition)
{
Data data;
if(condition)
{
data.x = 2.0;
data.y = 2.0;
return data;
}
else
{
return {};
}
}
Well, in this case, the as-if rule is enough already: Data
is trivially copyable and trivially destructible, so you cannot observe whether the compiler copies it, or whether it directly constructs it into the std::optional<Data>
return object. NRVO is not needed in order to prevent the copy.
Let's suppose you gave Data
a copy constructor with a side effect. Then the question of whether NRVO applies would be relevant. The answer is no: NRVO doesn't apply, because the local variable's type differs from the function return type. In order to allow NRVO to happen, you might write something like this:
std::optional<Data> r;
if (condition) {
r.emplace();
r.x = 2.0;
r.y = 2.0;
}
return r;