CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++windowsconsole
Lauer
Lauer

Reputation: 517

Most efficient way to write to the console?

I want to make an iostream type class. I would like to find the most efficient way to write a set of characters to the screen. Ideas:

printf-I dont want the type formating I need to do that myself.
WriteConsole-Read that it was slower than printf? True/False?
*Assembly-Dont know how
other?

*my main concern is if I could find how to do it. I dont have any rush as far as time.

EDIT: for some reason WriteConsole is slower.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 7503

Answers (3)

ARandomFurry
ARandomFurry

Reputation: 203

I found that for Windows using WriteConsoleOutputCharacter() averages about the same as fwrite() for stdout, and requires one less file to include if you're not using <stdio.h>. Both are very fast though. I did not test FillConsoleOutputCharacter(). I probably didn't use that great of a benchmark either. As for premature optimization I had to tackle this problem first when creating a cool little library for the console window that more or less turned it into a windows based environment with an overarching system managing it. I used this system for college and personal text based games. For logging and similar behaviour using cout and friends does the job just as well, despite being slow(er).

Upvotes: 1

Rafael Baptista
Rafael Baptista

Reputation: 11499

Use "fwrite":

fwrite( buffer, size, 1, stderr );

This will be much faster than you will ever need. And you have a bonus that you can then make your iostream class be able to write not just to the console but to files too.

Upvotes: 4

Jon Cage
Jon Cage

Reputation: 37488

I would suggest trying a few methods (you've mentioned a couple there) and benchmarking the results. You may be suprised by your results but even if they're as you expect, you can at least be certain you're doing the best you can. For the record though, I would be surprised if you find much faster than printf.

The most pragmatic way to code (in my experience) goes along these lines:

  1. Get something the functionally performs.
  2. Set up a benchmark to test whether your solution is fast enough.
  3. If it's not fast enough, try something else then go back to 2.
  4. If it's fast enough you're done!

It sounds like you've not even started designing / coding from your question. Beware premature optimisation...

Upvotes: 1

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