Question

I posted this question earlier about dynamically compiling code in C#, and the answer has lead to another question.

One suggestion is that I use delegates, which I tried and they work well. However, they are benching at about 8.4 X slower than direct calls, which makes no sense.

What is wrong with this code?

My results, .Net 4.0, 64 bit, ran exe directly: 62, 514, 530

public static int Execute(int i) { return i * 2; }

private void button30_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    CSharpCodeProvider foo = new CSharpCodeProvider();

    var res = foo.CompileAssemblyFromSource(
        new System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters()
        {
            GenerateInMemory = true,
            CompilerOptions = @"/optimize",                    
        },
        @"public class FooClass { public static int Execute(int i) { return i * 2; }}"
    );

    var type = res.CompiledAssembly.GetType("FooClass");
    var obj = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
    var method = type.GetMethod("Execute");
    int i = 0, t1 = Environment.TickCount, t2;
    //var input = new object[] { 2 };

    //for (int j = 0; j < 10000000; j++)
    //{
    //    input[0] = j;
    //    var output = method.Invoke(obj, input);
    //    i = (int)output;
    //}

    //t2 = Environment.TickCount;

    //MessageBox.Show((t2 - t1).ToString() + Environment.NewLine + i.ToString());

    t1 = Environment.TickCount;

    for (int j = 0; j < 100000000; j++)
    {
        i = Execute(j);
    }

    t2 = Environment.TickCount;

    MessageBox.Show("Native: " + (t2 - t1).ToString() + Environment.NewLine + i.ToString());

    var func = (Func<int, int>) Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof (Func<int, int>), method);

    t1 = Environment.TickCount;

    for (int j = 0; j < 100000000; j++)
    {
        i = func(j);
    }

    t2 = Environment.TickCount;

    MessageBox.Show("Dynamic delegate: " + (t2 - t1).ToString() + Environment.NewLine + i.ToString());

    Func<int, int> funcL = Execute;

    t1 = Environment.TickCount;

    for (int j = 0; j < 100000000; j++)
    {
        i = funcL(j);
    }

    t2 = Environment.TickCount;

    MessageBox.Show("Delegate: " + (t2 - t1).ToString() + Environment.NewLine + i.ToString());
}

Answer 1

It makes sense. Delegates are not function pointers. They imply type checking, security and a lot of other stuffs. They’re more close to the speed of a virtual function call (see this post) even if the performance impact derives from something completely different.

For a good comparison of different invocation techniques (some of them not mentioned in the question) read this article.