Book Image

Hands-On Design Patterns with C++

By : Fedor G. Pikus
Book Image

Hands-On Design Patterns with C++

By: Fedor G. Pikus

Overview of this book

C++ is a general-purpose programming language designed with the goals of efficiency, performance, and flexibility in mind. Design patterns are commonly accepted solutions to well-recognized design problems. In essence, they are a library of reusable components, only for software architecture, and not for a concrete implementation. The focus of this book is on the design patterns that naturally lend themselves to the needs of a C++ programmer, and on the patterns that uniquely benefit from the features of C++, in particular, the generic programming. Armed with the knowledge of these patterns, you will spend less time searching for a solution to a common problem and be familiar with the solutions developed from experience, as well as their advantages and drawbacks. The other use of design patterns is as a concise and an efficient way to communicate. A pattern is a familiar and instantly recognizable solution to specific problem; through its use, sometimes with a single line of code, we can convey a considerable amount of information. The code conveys: "This is the problem we are facing, these are additional considerations that are most important in our case; hence, the following well-known solution was chosen." By the end of this book, you will have gained a comprehensive understanding of design patterns to create robust, reusable, and maintainable code.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)

Local Buffer Optimization

Not all design patterns are concerned with designing class hierarchies. For commonly occurring problems, a software design pattern is the most general and reusable solution and, for those programming in C++, one of the most commonly occurring problems is inadequate performance. One of the most common causes of such poor performance is inefficient memory management. Patterns were developed to deal with these problems. In this chapter, we will explore one such pattern that addresses, in particular, the overhead of small, frequent memory allocations.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

  • What is the overhead of small memory allocations, and how can it be measured?
  • What is the local buffer optimization, how does it improve performance, and how can the improvements be measured?
  • When can the local buffer optimization pattern be used effectively...