How fast is cling/ROOT? Comparing C++ JIT to real compilers on a ray tracer.

I have been in loved with ROOT – CERN’s Data Analysis framework and it’s interactive C++ shell. But how fast is the code JITed by ROOT? I have find myself compiling ROOT scripts (aka. ACLiC, basically clang) more then I run them in the interpreter. So, let’s find that out today. Further more, how fast is ACLiC compared to a standalone compiler?

For the test, I’ll let ROOT and other compiler compiler and run SmallPT and see how long it for each of the program takes to render the scene at 1024×764 pixels, 4 samples per pixel. – For those who doesn’t know, SmallPT is a 99 line C++ PBR renderer. And is featured in the Phoronix test suite.

Running the tests n my main box.

CPU	AMD Ryzen 1700X 16 threads
RAM	DDR4 2888MHz Dual Channel
OS	Arch Linux, Kernel 5.1.14
Chipset	AMD FCH B350

The contenders are:

Compiler/Interpreter	Version
GCC – O0/O1/O2/O3 (no OpenMP)	9.1.0
clang – O0/O1/O2/O3 (no OpenMP)	8.0.0
ROOT – JIT	6.0.16
ROOT – ACLiC	6.0.16
cling	0.6

And I slightly modified SmallPT so modern clang can compile it and ROOT can run it.

Two locations are changed. A static_cast is added so clang does not complain about down casting and a smallpt() function is added for ROOT and cling to execute the renderer automatically.

#include <math.h>   // smallpt, a Path Tracer by Kevin Beason, 2008
#include <stdlib.h> // Make : g++ -O3 -fopenmp smallpt.cpp -o smallpt
#include <stdio.h>  //        Remove "-fopenmp" for g++ version < 4.2
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
struct Vec {        // Usage: time ./smallpt 5000 && xv image.ppm
  double x, y, z;                  // position, also color (r,g,b)
  Vec(double x_=0, double y_=0, double z_=0){ x=x_; y=y_; z=z_; }
  Vec operator+(const Vec &b) const { return Vec(x+b.x,y+b.y,z+b.z); }
  Vec operator-(const Vec &b) const { return Vec(x-b.x,y-b.y,z-b.z); }
  Vec operator*(double b) const { return Vec(x*b,y*b,z*b); }
  Vec mult(const Vec &b) const { return Vec(x*b.x,y*b.y,z*b.z); }
  Vec& norm(){ return *this = *this * (1/sqrt(x*x+y*y+z*z)); }
  double dot(const Vec &b) const { return x*b.x+y*b.y+z*b.z; } // cross:
  Vec operator%(Vec&b){return Vec(y*b.z-z*b.y,z*b.x-x*b.z,x*b.y-y*b.x);}
};
struct Ray { Vec o, d; Ray(Vec o_, Vec d_) : o(o_), d(d_) {} };
enum Refl_t { DIFF, SPEC, REFR };  // material types, used in radiance()
struct Sphere {
  double rad;       // radius
  Vec p, e, c;      // position, emission, color
  Refl_t refl;      // reflection type (DIFFuse, SPECular, REFRactive)
  Sphere(double rad_, Vec p_, Vec e_, Vec c_, Refl_t refl_):
    rad(rad_), p(p_), e(e_), c(c_), refl(refl_) {}
  double intersect(const Ray &r) const { // returns distance, 0 if nohit
    Vec op = p-r.o; // Solve t^2*d.d + 2*t*(o-p).d + (o-p).(o-p)-R^2 = 0
    double t, eps=1e-4, b=op.dot(r.d), det=b*b-op.dot(op)+rad*rad;
    if (det<0) return 0; else det=sqrt(det);
    return (t=b-det)>eps ? t : ((t=b+det)>eps ? t : 0);
  }
};
Sphere spheres[] = {//Scene: radius, position, emission, color, material
  Sphere(1e5, Vec( 1e5+1,40.8,81.6), Vec(),Vec(.75,.25,.25),DIFF),//Left
  Sphere(1e5, Vec(-1e5+99,40.8,81.6),Vec(),Vec(.25,.25,.75),DIFF),//Rght
  Sphere(1e5, Vec(50,40.8, 1e5),     Vec(),Vec(.75,.75,.75),DIFF),//Back
  Sphere(1e5, Vec(50,40.8,-1e5+170), Vec(),Vec(),           DIFF),//Frnt
  Sphere(1e5, Vec(50, 1e5, 81.6),    Vec(),Vec(.75,.75,.75),DIFF),//Botm
  Sphere(1e5, Vec(50,-1e5+81.6,81.6),Vec(),Vec(.75,.75,.75),DIFF),//Top
  Sphere(16.5,Vec(27,16.5,47),       Vec(),Vec(1,1,1)*.999, SPEC),//Mirr
  Sphere(16.5,Vec(73,16.5,78),       Vec(),Vec(1,1,1)*.999, REFR),//Glas
  Sphere(600, Vec(50,681.6-.27,81.6),Vec(12,12,12),  Vec(), DIFF) //Lite
};
inline double clamp(double x){ return x<0 ? 0 : x>1 ? 1 : x; }
inline int toInt(double x){ return int(pow(clamp(x),1/2.2)*255+.5); }
inline bool intersect(const Ray &r, double &t, int &id){
  double n=sizeof(spheres)/sizeof(Sphere), d, inf=t=1e20;
  for(int i=int(n);i--;) if((d=spheres[i].intersect(r))&&d<t){t=d;id=i;}
  return t<inf;
}
Vec radiance(const Ray &r, int depth, unsigned short *Xi){
  double t;                               // distance to intersection
  int id=0;                               // id of intersected object
  if (!intersect(r, t, id)) return Vec(); // if miss, return black
  const Sphere &obj = spheres[id];        // the hit object
  Vec x=r.o+r.d*t, n=(x-obj.p).norm(), nl=n.dot(r.d)<0?n:n*-1, f=obj.c;
  double p = f.x>f.y && f.x>f.z ? f.x : f.y>f.z ? f.y : f.z; // max refl
  if (++depth>5) if (erand48(Xi)<p) f=f*(1/p); else return obj.e; //R.R.
  if (obj.refl == DIFF){                  // Ideal DIFFUSE reflection
    double r1=2*M_PI*erand48(Xi), r2=erand48(Xi), r2s=sqrt(r2);
    Vec w=nl, u=((fabs(w.x)>.1?Vec(0,1):Vec(1))%w).norm(), v=w%u;
    Vec d = (u*cos(r1)*r2s + v*sin(r1)*r2s + w*sqrt(1-r2)).norm();
    return obj.e + f.mult(radiance(Ray(x,d),depth,Xi));
  } else if (obj.refl == SPEC)            // Ideal SPECULAR reflection
    return obj.e + f.mult(radiance(Ray(x,r.d-n*2*n.dot(r.d)),depth,Xi));
  Ray reflRay(x, r.d-n*2*n.dot(r.d));     // Ideal dielectric REFRACTION
  bool into = n.dot(nl)>0;                // Ray from outside going in?
  double nc=1, nt=1.5, nnt=into?nc/nt:nt/nc, ddn=r.d.dot(nl), cos2t;
  if ((cos2t=1-nnt*nnt*(1-ddn*ddn))<0)    // Total internal reflection
    return obj.e + f.mult(radiance(reflRay,depth,Xi));
  Vec tdir = (r.d*nnt - n*((into?1:-1)*(ddn*nnt+sqrt(cos2t)))).norm();
  double a=nt-nc, b=nt+nc, R0=a*a/(b*b), c = 1-(into?-ddn:tdir.dot(n));
  double Re=R0+(1-R0)*c*c*c*c*c,Tr=1-Re,P=.25+.5*Re,RP=Re/P,TP=Tr/(1-P);
  return obj.e + f.mult(depth>2 ? (erand48(Xi)<P ?   // Russian roulette
    radiance(reflRay,depth,Xi)*RP:radiance(Ray(x,tdir),depth,Xi)*TP) :
    radiance(reflRay,depth,Xi)*Re+radiance(Ray(x,tdir),depth,Xi)*Tr);
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
  int w=1024, h=768, samps = argc==2 ? atoi(argv[1])/4 : 1; // # samples
  Ray cam(Vec(50,52,295.6), Vec(0,-0.042612,-1).norm()); // cam pos, dir
  Vec cx=Vec(w*.5135/h), cy=(cx%cam.d).norm()*.5135, r, *c=new Vec[w*h];
#pragma omp parallel for schedule(dynamic, 1) private(r)       // OpenMP
  for (int y=0; y<h; y++){                       // Loop over image rows
    fprintf(stderr,"\rRendering (%d spp) %5.2f%%",samps*4,100.*y/(h-1));
    for (unsigned short x=0, Xi[3]={0,0,static_cast<uint16_t>(y*y*y)}; x<w; x++)   // Loop cols
      for (int sy=0, i=(h-y-1)*w+x; sy<2; sy++)     // 2x2 subpixel rows
        for (int sx=0; sx<2; sx++, r=Vec()){        // 2x2 subpixel cols
          for (int s=0; s<samps; s++){
            double r1=2*erand48(Xi), dx=r1<1 ? sqrt(r1)-1: 1-sqrt(2-r1);
            double r2=2*erand48(Xi), dy=r2<1 ? sqrt(r2)-1: 1-sqrt(2-r2);
            Vec d = cx*( ( (sx+.5 + dx)/2 + x)/w - .5) +
                    cy*( ( (sy+.5 + dy)/2 + y)/h - .5) + cam.d;
            r = r + radiance(Ray(cam.o+d*140,d.norm()),0,Xi)*(1./samps);
          } // Camera rays are pushed ^^^^^ forward to start in interior
          c[i] = c[i] + Vec(clamp(r.x),clamp(r.y),clamp(r.z))*.25;
        }
  }
  FILE *f = fopen("image.ppm", "w");         // Write image to PPM file.
  fprintf(f, "P3\n%d %d\n%d\n", w, h, 255);
  for (int i=0; i<w*h; i++)
    fprintf(f,"%d %d %d ", toInt(c[i].x), toInt(c[i].y), toInt(c[i].z));
}

void smallpt()
{
	const char* argv[] = {"smallpt"};
	auto t1 = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
	main(1, (char**)argv);
	auto t2 = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
	std::cout << '\n' << std::chrono::duration<float>(t2-t1).count() << std::endl;
}

For the compilers, I simply compile SmallPT and use the time command to time it. And for ROOT and cling, the C++11 timers are used.

And…. Here are the results! (click to enlarge)

• 

Not surprisingly that ROOT’s JIT is quite slow. In fact it is slower then GCC and clang’s -O0 compilation. Not surprising after all, there’s not much you can do when you are running while compilation while ROOT have the added overhead to generate code while running. And seems cling 0.6 have received some optimization that haven’t gone into ROOT. It is that tiny bit faster.. Great!

Conclusion

ROOT’s C++ interpreter is fast (and definitely JITed, you can’t interpret byte code this fast). But it is nothing close to what a proper compiler can do. So I highly recommend to compile you C++ scripts in production. So you catch error early and runs faster.

TL;DR

ROOT’s JIT is not as fast a a compiler. But very good compared to languages like Python and PHP (obviously).

Compiler/arguments	Time (seconds)
GCC -O0	18.197
clang -O0	18.227
GCC -O1	5.384
clang -O1	9.537
GCC -O2	4.954
clang -O2	5.617
GCC -O3	4.999
clang -O3	5.583
ROOT – JIT	22.4223
ROOT – ACLiC	4.86559
cling	21.3674