Benchmarks for Various Data Structures

(work-in-progress)

Results

The data set is 1,000,000 integers using g++ version 8.1 and optimization level -O2.

The computer used for the testing is nina:

Operating System      Linux Mint 17 Qiana 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
Model                 Shuttle Inc. DS81D
Model ID              
Motherboard           Shuttle Inc. FS81
Processor             Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790S CPU @ 3.20GHz
                      1 Processor, 4 Cores, 8 Threads
Processor ID          GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3
L1 Instruction Cache  32.0 KB x 4
L1 Data Cache         32.0 KB x 4
L2 Cache              256 KB x 4
L3 Cache              8.00 MB
Memory                15.6 GB 
BIOS                  American Megatrends Inc. 3.08

Here are the details about nina.

System topology:

Table of results (with compiler optimization level -O2)

Data structure insert^*
(random) delete^*
(random) insert
(sorted) delete
(sorted) insert
(sorted rev.) delete
(sorted rev.) find^*
(random)

AVL tree 0.689 0.842 0.186 0.197 0.185 0.196 0.345

Red-black tree 0.653 0.601 0.223 0.110 0.228 0.109 0.328

Skiplist 0.790 0.768 0.138 0.066 0.111 0.111 0.054

BList¹ 1.837 2.461 6.297 (no opt)²
0.691 (w/opt)³ 0.175 0.475 3.371 2.402

Hash table (OA)⁴ 0.213 0.655 (PACK)⁵
0.187 (MARK)⁶ 0.222

Hash table (chaining)⁷ 0.360 0.345 0.346

Data structure	insert^* (random)	delete^* (random)	insert (sorted)	delete (sorted)	insert (sorted rev.)	delete (sorted rev.)	find^* (random)
AVL tree	0.689	0.842	0.186	0.197	0.185	0.196	0.345
Red-black tree	0.653	0.601	0.223	0.110	0.228	0.109	0.328
Skiplist	0.790	0.768	0.138	0.066	0.111	0.111	0.054
BList¹	1.837	2.461	6.297 (no opt)² 0.691 (w/opt)³	0.175	0.475	3.371	2.402
Hash table (OA)⁴	0.213	0.655 (PACK)⁵ 0.187 (MARK)⁶					0.222
Hash table (chaining)⁷	0.360	0.345					0.346

^* These columns are the most relevant because they represent the average/typical case.

¹The BList was tested with 2,048 items per node.
²No special optimizations were made and the normal search code was used to find the position.
³Before walking the list looking for the insertion point, a check was made to see if the value being inserted was larger than the largest element in the list. This meant no searching was required and it could simply be inserted at the end.
⁴The confguration: load factor is 0.667, hash function is Super Fast, and the collision resolution policy is linear probing.
⁵When an item is deleted, the remaining items in the cluster are reinserted into the table.
⁶When an item is deleted, the slot is simply marked as DELETED.
⁷The confguration: load factor is 5, hash function is Super Fast.

It's important to realize that the times are only for the operations listed. Constructors and destructors were not part of the timings, nor was the creation of the sample data. Here's an example of code that is being timed:

// All constructors are called and test data was created ...

  StartTimer();
  for (int i = 0; i < size; i++)
    tree.insert(ia[i]);
  StopTimer();

// All destructors are called and test data was destroyed ...

Timing code:

#include <chrono>

std::chrono::time_point<std::chrono::system_clock> Start;
std::chrono::time_point<std::chrono::system_clock> Stop;

void StartTimer()
{
  Start = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
}

void StopTimer()
{
  Stop = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
}

void PrintElapsedTime()
{
  std::chrono::duration<double> elapsed = Stop - Start;  
  std::cout << "Elapsed time: " << std::setprecision(3) << std::fixed
                                << elapsed.count() << std::endl;
}

Things that could affect the performance:

The size/type of data (e.g. integers vs. objects)
A custom object allocator for nodes/structs
Hash tables have several configurable parameters (e.g. hash function, open/closed addressing, load factor).
Using a single bit for color in Red-black trees.
Recursion vs. iteration (e.g. AVL uses iteration to re-balance)
BList performance increases (up to a point) with the size of the array in the node.
Some structures may work better with the hardware cache.
Not related to performance, but ideally these tests would be automated to easily run on any system (CPU, OS).

Table of results (with no compiler optimizations: -O0)

Data structure insert
(random) delete
(random) insert
(sorted) delete
(sorted) insert
(sorted rev.) delete
(sorted rev.) find
(random)

AVL tree 1.420 2.015 0.917 1.002 0.902 0.994 0.712

Red-black tree 0.750 0.832 0.354 0.207 0.347 0.197 0.717

Skiplist 1.104 1.177 0.319 0.183 0.245 0.282 0.135

BList (2048) 4.335 3.299 9.377 (no opt)
3.398 (w/opt) 1.172 2.914 3.490 2.452

Hash table (OA) 0.269 2.914 (PACK)
1.014 (MARK) 0.251

Hash table (chaining) 0.391 0.392 0.367

Data structure	insert (random)	delete (random)	insert (sorted)	delete (sorted)	insert (sorted rev.)	delete (sorted rev.)	find (random)
AVL tree	1.420	2.015	0.917	1.002	0.902	0.994	0.712
Red-black tree	0.750	0.832	0.354	0.207	0.347	0.197	0.717
Skiplist	1.104	1.177	0.319	0.183	0.245	0.282	0.135
BList (2048)	4.335	3.299	9.377 (no opt) 3.398 (w/opt)	1.172	2.914	3.490	2.452
Hash table (OA)	0.269	2.914 (PACK) 1.014 (MARK)					0.251
Hash table (chaining)	0.391	0.392					0.367

The table above shows that compiler optimization can sometimes have a significant affect on performance.

All of the sizes assume 4-byte integers and 8-byte pointers.

A BST/AVL tree node (size is 32):

template <typename T>
struct BinTreeNode
{
  BinTreeNode *left;  // Left child
  BinTreeNode *right; // Right child
  int balance_factor; // For efficient balancing
  unsigned count;     // Nodes in this subtree (for efficient indexing)
  T data;             // The data
};

A Red-black tree node (size is 32):

template <typename T>
struct RBNode
{
  RBNode *left;   // Left child
  RBNode *right;  // Right child
  RBNode *parent; // Parent node ptr
  RBCOLOR color;  // Color (red or black)
  T data;         // The data
};

Skiplist	Statistics
A Skiplist node (size varies from (24 to 140): template <typename T> struct SLNode { unsigned level; // This node's level SLNode prev; // Previous node* SLNode* next[MAX_SKIP_LEVELS]; // Forward pointers T data; // The data };	Number of items: 1000000 Statistics for 1000000 nodes with interval 2: Actual Ideal Level 0 nodes: 509596 500000 Level 1 nodes: 249837 250000 Level 2 nodes: 122918 125000 Level 3 nodes: 59911 62500 Level 4 nodes: 29604 31250 Level 5 nodes: 14175 15625 Level 6 nodes: 7124 7812.5 Level 7 nodes: 3475 3906.25 Level 8 nodes: 1767 1953.12 Level 9 nodes: 807 976.562 Level 10 nodes: 388 488.281 Level 11 nodes: 184 244.141 Level 12 nodes: 99 122.07 Level 13 nodes: 49 61.0352 Level 14 nodes: 31 30.5176 Level 15 nodes: 16 15.2588 Level 16 nodes: 7 7.62939 Level 17 nodes: 8 3.8147 Level 18 nodes: 1 1.90735 Level 19 nodes: 2 0.953674 Level 20 nodes: 1 0.476837 Total nodes: 1000000 Total pointers: 1961892 pointers/nodes: 1.9619

Skiplist

Statistics

A Skiplist node (size varies from (24 to 140):

template <typename T>
struct SLNode
{
  unsigned level;                // This node's level
  SLNode *prev;                  // Previous node
  SLNode* next[MAX_SKIP_LEVELS]; // Forward pointers
  T data;                        // The data
};

Number of items: 1000000
Statistics for 1000000 nodes with interval 2:

                  Actual    Ideal
Level  0 nodes:   509596   500000
Level  1 nodes:   249837   250000
Level  2 nodes:   122918   125000
Level  3 nodes:    59911    62500
Level  4 nodes:    29604    31250
Level  5 nodes:    14175    15625
Level  6 nodes:     7124   7812.5
Level  7 nodes:     3475  3906.25
Level  8 nodes:     1767  1953.12
Level  9 nodes:      807  976.562
Level 10 nodes:      388  488.281
Level 11 nodes:      184  244.141
Level 12 nodes:       99   122.07
Level 13 nodes:       49  61.0352
Level 14 nodes:       31  30.5176
Level 15 nodes:       16  15.2588
Level 16 nodes:        7  7.62939
Level 17 nodes:        8   3.8147
Level 18 nodes:        1  1.90735
Level 19 nodes:        2 0.953674
Level 20 nodes:        1 0.476837

   Total nodes: 1000000
Total pointers: 1961892
pointers/nodes: 1.9619

BList	Statistics
A BList node (size varies from 24 with no limit): template <typename T, int Size = 1> struct BNode { BNode next; // Next pointer* BNode prev; // Previous pointer* int count; // Count of items in the node T values[Size]; // Array of items in the node };	Number of items: 1000000 Asize: 2048 Items: 1000000 Nodes: 689 Average items per node: 1451.38 Node utilization: 70.9% (with 2048 integers per node: sizeof(BNode) is 8212 bytes)

BList

Statistics

A BList node (size varies from 24 with no limit):

template <typename T, int Size = 1>
struct BNode
{
  BNode *next;    // Next pointer
  BNode *prev;    // Previous pointer
  int count;      // Count of items in the node
  T values[Size]; // Array of items in the node
};

Number of items: 1000000
Asize: 2048
Items: 1000000
Nodes: 689
Average items per node: 1451.38
Node utilization: 70.9%


(with 2048 integers per node:
sizeof(BNode) is 8212 bytes)

Open-address hash table Statistics

An open-addressed hash table slot (size varies, with MAX_KEYLEN=12, size is 24):
template <typename T> struct OAHTSlot { // The 3 possible states the slot can be in enum OAHTSlot_State {OCCUPIED, UNOCCUPIED, DELETED}; char Key[MAX_KEYLEN]; // Key is a NUL-terminated string OAHTSlot_State State; // The state of the slot int probes; // For testing/debuggin T Data; // Client data };

Number of items: 1000000 Creating table: Primary hash function: SF Hash Secondary hash function: None (Linear probing) Max load factor: 0.667 Growth factor: 2 Deletion policy: PACK Initial table size: 1500007 Inserting 1000000 items... Number of probes: 6573876 Average probes: 6.57388 Number of expansions: 0 Items: 1000000, TableSize: 1500007 Load factor: 0.667

Open-address hash table	Statistics
An open-addressed hash table slot (size varies, with MAX_KEYLEN=12, size is 24): template <typename T> struct OAHTSlot { // The 3 possible states the slot can be in enum OAHTSlot_State {OCCUPIED, UNOCCUPIED, DELETED}; char Key[MAX_KEYLEN]; // Key is a NUL-terminated string OAHTSlot_State State; // The state of the slot int probes; // For testing/debuggin T Data; // Client data };	Number of items: 1000000 Creating table: Primary hash function: SF Hash Secondary hash function: None (Linear probing) Max load factor: 0.667 Growth factor: 2 Deletion policy: PACK Initial table size: 1500007 Inserting 1000000 items... Number of probes: 6573876 Average probes: 6.57388 Number of expansions: 0 Items: 1000000, TableSize: 1500007 Load factor: 0.667

Closed-address hash table Statistics

A closed-addressed (chaining) hash table node (size varies, with MAX_KEYLEN=12, size is 24):
template <typename T> struct ChHTNode { char Key[MAX_KEYLEN]; // Key is a string ChHTNode *Next; // The next node T Data; // Client data }; // Each list has a head pointer (size is 16) struct ChHTHeadNode { ChHTNode *Nodes; // All nodes for this bucket int Count; // For testing/debugging };

Number of items: 1000000 Creating table: Hash function: SF Hash Initial size: 200000 Max load factor: 5 Growth factor: 2 Inserting 1000000 items... Number of probes: 5011635 Average probes: 5.01164 Number of expansions: 0 Items: 1000000, TableSize: 200003 Load factor: 5