simd_granodi.h

Easy C/C++ SIMD in a single header file, supporting AArch64 NEON, x86_64 SSE2, and an emulated implementation

Features

• Supports C99, and C++11 with extensive operator overloading, type-safe branchless conditionals, type traits, templated conversions etc.
• Full test coverage.
• Easy and type-safe comparison, and branchless conditional selection of results.
• The C++ classes are written in terms of the C implementation.
• The C++ classes are (mostly) immutable, apart from the +=, -=, *=, /=, &=, |=, ^= operators. Apart from these operators, all non-static methods are marked const and return a new value.
• Templated methods and type traits make it easy to write templated C++ SIMD code that works on several different types.
• The C implementation mostly uses macros (but only where arguments are evaluated no more than once), for faster debug builds. C code using the library should take almost the same amount of time to compile as if you had used the intrinsics directly.
• The emulated implementation, using built-in scalar types and standard library functions, allows for compilation on any target. (This implementation can be forced by defining SIMD_GRANODI_FORCE_GENERIC). It also serves as documentation for those not familiar with SIMD intrinsics.
• Avoids undefined behaviour.
• Tested on GCC NEON/SSE2, Clang NEON/SSE2, and MSVC++ x64. Currently Untested on MSVC++ NEON.
• simd_granodi.h is the only file you need.
• Designed to be easy enough to use for someone who has never done any SIMD programming before, but who is very familiar with C++.

Why 64-bit only? Why only SSE2?

This library was written so that the author could easily write cross-platform Audio DSP code that runs on all x86_64 machines, and newer AArch64 machines (ie the latest hardware from Apple). It targets 128-bit SIMD types (32x4 or 64x2). However, the emulated implementation should run on any hardware.

The x86_64 implementation limits itself to SSE2, as many otherwise-capable modern low-end CPUs do not support AVX, SSE2 is guaranteed to be implemented on all x86_64 machines, and later SSE instructions (eg SSE 4.2) only provide a marginal speed improvement to the functionality of this library. Also, NEON only supports 128-bit vectors. However, it would be possible to add AVX support in future, and emulate this on NEON by wrapping 2 or more 128-bit registers.

Emulated "fallback" implementation

If the header cannot detect that you are on x64 or AArch64 using Clang or GCC, or using MSVC++ (x64 only), it will revert to using a "generic" implementation which emulates SIMD using standard C/C++ built-in scalar types and standard library functions. This guarantees that you can compile for any target, even if performance is not as good.

Slow / non-vector functions

Some platforms do not have intrinsic functions for some SIMD operations, and so they are emulated using standard library functions and may be slower. A list of these functions/macros, per-platform, is contained in a comment at the start of the simd_granodi.h file. If you are using the C++ classes, you may wish to search for those names in the file to see which methods they correspond to. In future this documentation will be updated with more details.

C++ documentation

Namespaces

All of the C++ code is inside the namespace simd_granodi. All of the code examples below assume you are using namespace simd_granodi;, but you may choose to do something like namespace sg = simd_granodi;.

The C functions / macros are not inside a namespace (because of the use of macros), but typically have the prefix sg_.

Vector types

All of the following vector types are 128-bit in size:

• Vec_pi32 - Vector of 4 32-bit signed packed integers. AKA Vec_s32x4
• Vec_pi64 - Vector of 2 64-bit signed packed integers. AKA Vec_s64x2
• Vec_ps - Vector of 4 packed single-precision floating point values. AKA Vec_f32x4
• Vec_pd - Vector of 2 packed double-precision floating point values. AKA Vec_f64x2

The following vector types are 64-bit in size:

• Vec_s32x2 - Vector of 2 32-bit signed integers
• Vec_f32x2 - Vector of 2 32-bit floating point values

Note: On SSE2, Vec_s32x2 and Vec_f32x2 are emulated. See below for explanation.

The following are "scalar wrapper" types, which allow you to write templated code that operates either on built-in C++ types or SIMD vectors:

• Vec_s32x1 - Wrapper for int32_t
• Vec_s64x1 - Wrapper for int64_t
• Vec_f32x1 - Wrapper for float. AKA Vec_ss, vector of single single-precision floating point value.
• Vec_f64x1 - Wrapper for double. AKA Vec_sd, vector of single double-precision floating point value.

Comparison types

The following are type-safe comparison-types (implemented as bit-masks) that arise as the result of comparing two vectors:

• Compare_pi32 - Result of comparing two Vec_pi32. AKA Compare_s32x4
• Compare_pi64 - Result of comparing two Vec_pi64. AKA Compare_s64x2
• Compare_ps - Result of comparing two Vec_ps. AKA Compare_f32x4
• Compare_pd - Result of comparing two Vec_pd. AKA Compare_f64x2
• Compare_s32x2 - Result of comparing two Vec_s32x2
• Compare_f32x2 - Result of comparing two Vec_f32x2

The following are type-safe comparison types for the equivalent "scalar wrapper" types, allowing you to write templated code that operates either on vectors or C++ built-in types. They are a simple wrapper for bool, and should get optimized out when used:

• Compare_s32x1 - Result of comparing two Vec_s32x1
• Compare_s64x1 - Result of comparing two Vec_s64x1
• Compare_f32x1 - Result of comparing two Vec_f32x1. AKA Compare_ss
• Compare_s64x1 - Result of comparing two Vec_f64x1. AKA Compare_sd

A note on Vec_s32x2 and Vec_f32x2

On NEON, Vec_s32x2 and Vec_f32x2 are both native types. But on SSE2, they are emulated via a struct containing two int32_t or two float respectively. These types are useful as they take up less space than Vec_pi32 and Vec_ps (ie if you hold a large array or other data structure containing them). But for long running calculations, you can use the following type alias to convert to the fastest in-register type with size of at least 2 elements:

• Vec_s32x2::fast_register_t - defined as Vec_pi32 on SSE2, and Vec_s32x2 on all other platforms
• Vec_f32x2::fast_register_t - defined as Vec_ps on SSE2, and Vec_f32x2 on all other platforms.

These are type aliases, so in order to use them you must use the .to<NewType>() templated method to convert. For example, Vec_f32x2{5.0f, 4.0f}.to<typename Vec_f32x2::fast_register_t>() will give you the fastest in-register vector for your platform containing values {5.0f, 4.0f}.

A note on using MSVC++ on x64

In order to obtain improved performance when compiling x64 code using the SIMD C++ classes, it is recommended to take the following steps:

Use the sg_vectorcall() macro to declare / define functions

Use the sg_vectorcall(f) macro to define your own functions which take float, double, or any SIMD type or SIMD class wrapper type as an argument, to avoid unnecessary loads and stores. On MSVC++ under x64, this macro is defined as:

#define sg_vectorcall(f) __vectorcall f

and on other platforms, this macro is defined as the identity macro:

#define sg_vectorcall(f) f

and so has no effect on your function declaration / definition.

Example of using the sg_vectorcall() macro:

float sg_vectorcall(my_func)(const float x) {
    return x + 12.0f;
}

Vec_ps sg_vectorcall(my_func_simd)(const Vec_ps x) {
    return x + 12.0f;
}

Pass SIMD C++ class types by value, not by const reference

On MSVC++, passing SIMD class types by const reference can introduce unnecessary loads and stores.

Compile with the /GS- (the important part being the -)

Functions which take an argument whose type is one of the C++ SIMD classes cause MSVC++ to place a security cookie on the stack before that function is called, and check that cookie again when the function returns. (This only happens if the function is not inlined). This is a sensible way to check for stack corruption, but can add overhead if you repeatedly call a function which (for example) takes a Vec_ps as an argument, but is large enough to not get inlined.

Constructors

Default constructor

• All vector types are default-constructed to hold a value of zero. This is for safety and convenience, and this assignment typically gets optimized out.
• All comparison types are default-constructed to hold a value of false. With vector comparisons, this is a bit-mask comprised of all zeros. With "scalar wrapper" comparisons, this is a bool with value false.

"Broadcast" constructors

• All vector types have a "broadcast" constructor that takes a single value and "broadcasts" it to all elements of the vector. For example, Vec_ps{3.0f} will result in the vector Vec_ps{3.0f, 3.0f, 3.0f, 3.0f}. This also allows for convenient arithmetic with constants, for example Vec_ps{3.0f} + 1.0f will give the vector {4.0f, 4.0f, 4.0f, 4.0f} as the 1.0f is implicitly constructed into a Vec_ps.
• Note that vector types do not have a broadcast constructor that takes an equivalent "scalar wrapper" type as an argument, due to constructor overload ambiguity when using literals/constants in code. Ie you can not do Vec_ps{Vec_f32x1{1.0f}}. However there are easy workarounds for this: construct from the .data() element of the scalar wrapper type, or convert the scalar wrapper type using the .to<NewType>() method.
• All comparison types also have a "broadcast" constructor which accepts a bool. For vector comparisons, all of the bits of the bit-mask are set to 0 if this is false, or 1 if this is true. For the "scalar wrapper" types, this sets the value of the bool member.

The rationale behind the broadcast constructors, is that they allow constants to be easily mixed in with vector code. For example, Vec_pd{5.0, 4.0} + 2.0 will give the vector {7.0, 6.0} as 2.0 is implicitly constructed into a Vec_pd of {2.0, 2.0}.

There is no Vec_pd constructor that accepts a single Vec_f64x1 scalar wrapper type to broadcast to all elements (using these types as an example). This is because Vec_pd{5.0, 4.0} + 2.0 would cause an ambiguity between Vec_pd{5.0, 4.0f} + Vec_pd{Vec_f64x1{2.0}} or Vec_pd{5.0, 4.0f} + Vec_pd{2.0}, as both Vec_pd and Vec_f64x1 can be constructed from a double.

Element-wise constructors

• All Vector types can be constructed by specifying the value of each element. Following the SSE2 convention, the elements are specified in reverse order. For example, Vec_ps{3.0f, 2.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f} creates a vector with the value 3 at index 3, value 2 at index 2, value 1 at index 1, and value 0 at index 0. When these values are compile-time constants, this constructor is typically optimized into a single instruction, otherwise it may take several instructions.
• Vector types with 4 elements can be constructed by specifying the value of the lowest 2 or 3 elements, and the upper 1 or 2 elements will be zeroed. Eg Vec_ps{3.0f, 7.0f} evaluates as {0.0f, 0.0f, 3.0f, 7.0f}.
• All comparison types also have a "vector" constructor that takes a bool to specify a bit-mask for each element. true will be interpreted as all bits set to 1, and false will be interpreted as all bits set to 0. The reverse ordering convention is the same as for vector types.

Load and store vectors from/to pointers to element type

Every Vec_ type has load, loadu, store, and storeu methods. Warning: The load and store methods take pointers to data that must be correctly aligned.

The load and loadu (u means unaligned) are static methods that take a pointer to the vector's element type (ie, int32_t*, int64_t*, float*, or double*) and construct a new vector from the elements pointed to. For example, auto vec = Vec_pd::loadu(&my_double_array[4]) will result in a vector of value {my_double_array[5], my_double_array[4]}. Please note this is a static method to construct a new vector, and not a way of loading values into an existing vector.

The store and storeu methods are similar, except they are not static and return void. They store the vector at the given element pointer location. Eg using the vec variable from the previous paragraph, you could then do vec.store(&my_double_array[4]) to store the vector back to where you loaded it from.

Vector element access

The elements of a vector can be accessed with the templated .get<int32_t>() method. The index is passed as the template argument. An out of range index will cause a compile time error. Example: Vec_pd{4.0, 3.0}.get<1>() will return a double with value 4.0.

Every vector and comparison type also has a .data() method that allows access to the underlying, built-in representation of that type (eg a value of type float or __m128d).

Setting vector elements

An element of a vector can be changed with the templated .set<int32_t>(new_val) method. But note that this method is const, and returns a new vector, leaving the original vector unchanged.

Eg Vec_ps{7.0f, 2.0f, 5.0f, 4.0f}.set<2>(6.0f) returns a new Vec_ps of value {7.0f, 6.0f, 5.0f, 4.0f}. Note that this is efficiently implemented in-register, and on most good compilers will not result in any loads or stores.

Arithmetic operators

All Vec_ types implement the following standard arithmetic operators: +=, +, -=, -, *=, *, /=, /. Also, integer types support both the pre- and postfix ++ and -- operators.

Bitwise operators

All Vec_ types, including floating-point types, implement the following bitwise operators: &=, &, |=, |, ^=, ^, ~.

Note: You might assume that, since Compare_ types use bitwise operations internally to mask or "select" a result, that they also implement these bitwise operators. However, for reasons of type safety, they do not implement these operators at all. Instead, they only implement the logical operators &&, ||, !, as well as == and !=.

Comparison operators for Vec_ types

When a comparison operator is used with two Vec_ types, it returns a result of the corresponding Compare_ type. All vector types implement the following comparison operators: <, <=, ==, !=, >=, >.

Logical operators for Compare_ types

All Compare_ types support the following logical operators: &&, ||, !.

Comparison operators for Compare_ types

All Compare_ types support the following comparison operators: ==, !=.

Compare_ choose / selection methods

All Compare_ types have two important methods: .choose(vec_true, vec_false) and .choose_else_zero(vec_true). vec_true and vec_false must be of the Vec_ type that corresponds to the Compare_ type. These methods return a Vec_ by selection.

This is best explained by example: (Vec_ps{3.0f} < 2.0f).choose(7.0f, 8.0f) will return Vec_ps{8.0f}, because 3 is not smaller than 2.

The .choose_else_zero() methods are a common optimization of .choose(). Whereas .choose() typically takes four CPU instructions, .choose_else_zero() only takes one. Using the example above, (Vec_ps{3.0f} < 2.0f).choose_else_zero(7.0f) would return Vec_ps{0.0f}.

An important note on .choose() method implementation

For the 128-bit vector types, the .choose() and .choose_else_zero() methods simply use bit-masking. The advantage is that this is completely branch-less, but the disadvantage is that both "branches" or possibilities are calculated: the unneeded result is then discarded.

For the "scalar wrapper" types, the .choose() and .choose_else_zero() methods may also appear to calculate both "branches", and in fact they will do so in unoptimized builds. But, often these methods will get inlined and the compiler will generate a conditional jump, so usually only one "branch" is calculated.

Bit-shifting

All signed integer types implement bit-shifting methods. These are not implemented for floating point types. If you wish to shift by an immediate value (compile-time constant), you can use one of the following methods where amount must be a compile-time constant of type int32_t:

• .shift_l_imm<amount>() - Return a new vector with each element shifted left by amount.
• .shift_rl_imm<amount>() - Return a new vector with each element shifted right logically by amount.
• .shift_ra_imm<amount>() - Return a new vector with each element shifted right arithmetically by amount.

For shifting by an amount determined at run-time, by another Vec_ of the same type, these are:

• .shift_l(const Vec_ amount) - Return a new vector with each element shifted left by the corresponding element in amount.
• .shift_rl(const Vec_ amount) - Return a new vector with each element shifted right logically by the corresponding element in amount.
• .shift_ra(const Vec_ amount) - Return a new vector with each element shifted right arithmetically by the corresponding element in amount.

Shuffling (rearranging vectors internally)

All Vec_ types with more than one element have a templated .shuffle<>() method that takes either 2 or 4 template parameters of type int32_t and returns a new vector with its internal elements rearranged. The template parameters represent the source indexes for the new vector, and this method will fail to compile if they are out of range.

This is best explained via example:

• Vec_ps{7.0f, 6.0f, 5.0f, 4.0f}.shuffle<3, 2, 1, 0>() returns Vec_ps{7.0f, 6.0f, 5.0f, 4.0f} - this is the "identity" shuffle as nothing changes.
• Vec_ps{7.0f, 6.0f, 5.0f, 4.0f}.shuffle<0, 1, 2, 3>() returns Vec_ps{4.0f, 5.0f, 6.0f, 7.0f}. We have reversed the elements.
• Vec_pd{7.0, 6.0}.shuffle<1, 1>() returns Vec_pd{7.0, 7.0}, as we choose the highest (1) index as the source for both elements of our new vector.

On SSE2, shuffles take 1 CPU instruction. On NEON, they take between 1 and 3 CPU instructions, depending on the shuffle.

Bitcasting between Vec_ types

Any Vec_ type can be bitcasted to any other Vec_ type of the same total size. (The elements do not need to be the same size, but the total size of the two vectors must be the same). To do this, you use the .bitcast<typename To>() method. Eg Vec_ps{4.0f}.bitcast<Vec_pi64>() will re-interpret 4 packed 32-bit floating point values as 2 packed 64-bit signed integers. This particular bitcast is allowed because they are both the same size of 128 bits.

For 128-bit vectors, bitcasing is usually a no-op (compiles to zero CPU instructions), but the subsequent switch to a different "pipeline" may or may not incur a small performance penalty depending on the hardware. But for the "scalar wrapper" types, bitcasting is achieved via memcpy() which usually gets optimized into a single register move instruction.

You can not bitcast a Compare_ type to any other type (including another Compare_ type), but you can convert between Compare_ types (see below).

Conversion between Vec_ types

You can convert to and from any Vec_ type. In general, this is achieved using the templated .to<typename To>() method. However, this method is not implemented for converting from a floating point type to an integer type. This is because a rounding method needs to be specified, using one of the following templated methods: .truncate<typename To>(), .floor<typename To>(), or .nearest<typename To>().

Also, at the time of writing, you cannot convert from a vector containing more than one element to a scalar wrapper type containing only one element. See the section below for how to get around this.

Converting from 32x4 vectors to 64x2 vectors

When you convert from a 32x4 vector (i.e. Vec_pi32 and Vec_ps) to a 64x2 or 32x2 vector (i.e. Vec_pi64, Vec_pd, Vec_s32x2, and Vec_f32x2), the lowest two elements from the 32x4 vector (at indexes 0 and 1) will be converted to new values for the 64x2 or 32x2 vector (and placed at indexes 0 and 1), and the highest two elements from the 32x4 vector (at indexes 2 and 3) will be discarded.

Converting from 64x2 vectors to 32x4 vectors

When you convert from a 64x2 vector (i.e. Vec_pi64 and Vec_pd) to a 32x4 vector (i.e. Vec_pi32 and Vec_ps), the elements from the 64x2 vector (at indexes 0 and 1) will be converted to new values and placed into indexes 0 and 1 of the the 32x4 vector. Indexes 2 and 3 of the 32x4 vector will be set to zero.

Converting to and from "scalar wrapper" vector types

• A "scalar wrapper" vector can be converted to any other vector type using the conversion methods.
• A vector with more than one element cannot be converted to a "scalar wrapper" vector type using the conversion methods. Instead, you must use the templated .get<int32_t index>() method to choose an element from the vector, then use that element to construct a new "scalar wrapper" vector type.

Converting between float types

• When converting a 64-bit float type to a 32-bit float type, the platform's default rounding method will be used. This is usually "round to nearest", with ties rounding to even.
• When converting a 32-bit float vector type to a 64-bit float vector type, there will be no loss of precision as the 64-bit type can represent the 32-bit type exactly.

Converting from float types to integer types

When converting from a float type to an integer type, you cannot use the templated .to<typename To>() method. Instead, you must use one of the following methods:

• .truncate<typename To>(): Round towards zero.
• .floor<typename To>(): Round towards minus infinity.
• .nearest<typename To>(): Round to nearest, with ties rounding to even.

Warning: the templated .nearest<typename To>() method on SSE2 assumes that you have not changed the default rounding mode, as this is the mode it will use to convert.

The static ::from(const FromType v) method...

... allows you to construct a new Vec_ type from a different type, with the exact same behaviour as the .to<typename To>() method. As with .to<typename To>(), you cannot construct an integer type from a float type, and you cannot convert a vector containing more than one element to a vector containing only one element.

Conversion between Compare_ types

The .to<typename To>() method also works for Compare_ types, to resize bitmasks. (For example, comparing two Vec_pd and using the result of that comparison to select Vec_pi64 results).

For Compare_ types whose elements are of different sizes (i.e. 32x4 or 64x2), the conversion behaviour is identical to that described for vectors above: The bitmasks will be resized, and the lowest two elements used.

Type traits and member type aliases

To aid in templated programming, all Vec_ types define the following type aliases as members:

• elem_t: The built-in type that corresponds to the elements of the vector. I.e. Vec_pi32:elem_t is int32_t.
• compare_t: The Compare_ type that corresponds to the vector. I.e. Vec_pi32::compare_t is Compare_pi32.
• fast_register_t: The fastest in-register type that has at least as many number of elements. For example, on SSE2, Vec_f32x2::fast_register_t is defined as Vec_ps, but on all other platforms it is defined as Vec_f32x2.

All Vec_ types also define the following static constexpr members:

• is_int_t - a bool indicating whether the vector is an integer type or not
• is_float_t - a bool indicating whether the vector is a floating point type or not
• elem_size - a std::size_t giving the size, in bytes, of each element of the vector. Eg Vec_ps::elem_size is equal to 4, because a float takes up 4 bytes.
• elem_count - a std::size_t giving the number of elements the vector has. Eg Vec_pd::elem_count is 2, because it contains two values of type double.

All floating point Vec_ types define the following type alias:

• fast_convert_int_t - An integer type that it is fast to convert to and from. For example, on SSE2, Vec_pd::fast_convert_int_t is defined as Vec_pi32, but on NEON, it is defined as Vec_pi64.

Type "finder" classes

• SGType<typename ElemType, std::size_t ElemCount> - This struct allows you to query its value member to find a vector type with the given element type and number of elements. Eg typename SGType<float, 4>::value gives you Vec_ps.
• SGIntType<std::size_t ElemSize, std::size_t ElemCount> - allows you to find an integer vector with the given element size (in bytes) and number of elements. Eg typename SGIntType<8, 2>::value gives you Vec_pi64.
• SGFloatType<Std::size_t ElemSize, std::size_t ElemCount> - as with SGIntType, but with floating point types. Eg typename SGFloatType<4, 2>::value gives you Vec_f32x2.
• SGEquivIntType<typename VecType> - allows you to find an integer type whose element size and element count are the same as VecType. Eg typename SGEquivIntType<Vec_pd>::value gives you Vec_pi64. Note that this does not take conversion speed into account.
• SGEquivFloatType<typename VecType> - as with SGEquivIntType, but with equivalent floating point types. Eg typename SGEquivFloatType<Vec_pi32>::value gives you Vec_ps. Note that this does not take conversion speed into account.

Utility and convenience methods

More documentation to follow in a future update.