API for optimized predicates (was Re: [postgis-devel] 1.3.3)

Paul Ramsey pramsey at cleverelephant.ca
Wed Apr 2 09:45:09 PDT 2008


Sure, it fails in a less catastrophic way, it just returns false all the time.

On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 9:43 AM, Martin Davis <mbdavis at refractions.net> wrote:
> So are you going to test the NULL case?
>
>
>
>  Paul Ramsey wrote:
>
> > Right. So, unsurprisingly, the 2-param case returned the same timing,
> > since it *was* the same code line.
> >
> > The 3-param case I ran was ST_Contains(ed.the_geom, v.centroid,
> > ed.gid), so the numeric case, not the NULL case.
> >
> > P
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 5:26 PM, Chris Hodgson <chodgson at refractions.net>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > Hmm... good point, when you say "2-param" case do you mean passing a
> > >  NULL to the 3-param version? Because I think the 2-param version IS the
> > >  usual un-prepared approach, which would explain your results... unless
> > >  I'm misunderstanding Ben's patch...
> > >
> > >  Chris
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >  Ben Jubb wrote:
> > >  > for the 3 param version, where you using an integer key, or NULL?
> > >  > b
> > >  >
> > >  > Paul Ramsey wrote:
> > >  >> I gave this a try, but in the three-parameter case it caused the
> > >  >> backend to crash and in the two-parameter case provided the same
> speed
> > >  >> as the usual un-prepared approach...
> > >  >>
> > >  >> I was testing with st_contains(polycolumn, pointcolumn), with 80
> polys
> > >  >> and 7000 points.
> > >  >>
> > >  >> P
> > >  >>
> > >  >> On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 3:50 PM, Ben Jubb <benjubb at refractions.net>
> wrote:
> > >  >>
> > >  >>>  Hiya,
> > >  >>>  I've attached a patch to lwgeom_geos_c.c, modifying its 1st arg
> caching
> > >  >>> behaviour.
> > >  >>>  The third argument is used as before, as a surrogate key, and the
> caching
> > >  >>> will use that as its key;
> > >  >>>  UNLESS the key is NULL.
> > >  >>>  If the key is NULL, the predicates use the memcmp technique to
> determine if
> > >  >>> the cached prepared geometry is in sync with the first arg.
> > >  >>>  Note that the two caching approaches have essentially independent
> caches.
> > >  >>>  This patch is intended for testing purposes only.
> > >  >>>  enjoy
> > >  >>>  b
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  Paul Ramsey wrote:
> > >  >>>  A unique-on-insert ID would be another approach. It would,
> however,
> > >  >>> involve a disk-format change, so we're talking about pretty big
> > >  >>> hammers here, regardless of whether we did a hash or a uuid.
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>> Ben, maybe just stick some small timing statements into your
> current
> > >  >>> code... start time, end time, and then do a noop memcmp with
> start/end
> > >  >>> times as well. That way we can compare the memcmp times to the
> total
> > >  >>> times.
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>> P.
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>> On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 10:17 AM, Martin Davis
> <mbdavis at refractions.net>
> > >  >>> wrote:
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  (renaming this thread, since the current one is way overloaded)
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  I agree with Paul and Mark - there should be a simple function
> signature
> > >  >>>  for the fast preds. The more complex one can be provided as well,
> but
> > >  >>>  it will need to be VERY well documented, since it's a tricky thing
> to grok.
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  re spatial hash - would you really trust a hash to confirm
> identity? I
> > >  >>>  don't think I would...
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  Would another alternative would be to assign a hidden unique ID to
> each
> > >  >>>  geom entered into the DB. This could be a honking big integer, or
> maybe
> > >  >>>  a UUID.
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  Paul Ramsey wrote:
> > >  >>>  > The problem is that the memcmp hit gets worse in exactly the
> cases
> > >  >>>  > were we expect better and better performance from the prepared
> > >  >>>  > algorithm... still, it would be nice to know what that hit is...
> > >  >>>  > compared to the original, unprepared time, it will be small, but
> > >  >>>  > compared to the prepared-with-id-API implementation... hard to
> say.
> > >  >>>  >
> > >  >>>  > Something to resolve before 1.4... It's unfortunate that all the
> > >  >>>  > *fast* tests can only falsify identity, not confirm it. I was
> talking
> > >  >>>  > to a fellow who has done a spatial db implementation on a
> proprietary
> > >  >>>  > system, and he was pleased with the idea of a "geographic hash"
> that
> > >  >>>  > he can calculate for each shape and use to test identity. If we
> were
> > >  >>>  > to do something like that, it would have to be optional, like
> the bbox
> > >  >>>  > calculation is currently.
> > >  >>>  >
> > >  >>>  > P.
> > >  >>>  >
> > >  >>>  > On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 2:51 AM, Mark Cave-Ayland
> > >  >>>  > <mark.cave-ayland at siriusit.co.uk> wrote:
> > >  >>>  >
> > >  >>>  >> On Friday 28 March 2008 23:53:53 Ben Jubb wrote:
> > >  >>>  >> > Howdy,
> > >  >>>  >> > In my testing, I did see a performance hit when using the
> memcmp test,
> > >  >>>  >> > although it was noticable only in the largest of my test
> geometries
> > >  >>>  >> > (5000 vertices or so).
> > >  >>>  >> > The three parameter form seemed like the best way to go
> because the
> > >  >>>  >> > whole point of the prepared version of the functions was to
> get the
> > >  >>> best
> > >  >>>  >> > possible performance. The cases when the performance matters
> most is
> > >  >>>  >> > with large geoms, and then the cost of doing the memcmp is
> the
> > >  >>> highest.
> > >  >>>  >> > Using a third argument seemed the simplest way to get the
> best
> > >  >>> possible
> > >  >>>  >> > performance from the predicates, with a minimal increase in
> the
> > >  >>>  >> > complexity of the interface.
> > >  >>>  >> > I agree it would be nice to have a single form for those
> predicates
> > >  >>> that
> > >  >>>  >> > automatically determines the most efficient manner to do the
> tests,
> > >  >>> but
> > >  >>>  >> > there didn't seem to be any efficient way to accomplish that.
> > >  >>>  >> >
> > >  >>>  >> > b
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >> Hi Ben,
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >> Well I think it really comes down to what exactly is the
> performance hit
> > >  >>> and
> > >  >>>  >> how did you measure it? Which platform/OS/C library did you
> use?
> > >  >>> Obviously
> > >  >>>  >> there will be *some* overhead having the extra memcmp() in
> there but
> > >  >>> does it
> > >  >>>  >> matter? For example, if the overhead is just 1-2s on a 30s
> query then
> > >  >>> that
> > >  >>>  >> doesn't really matter. Then again, if the overhead is 1s on a
> 3s query
> > >  >>> then
> > >  >>>  >> that is significant.
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >> Since this is a new feature then I'd be inclined to say that
> for a first
> > >  >>> cut
> > >  >>>  >> we should keep the standard API, and depending on the reports
> we get
> > >  >>> back,
> > >  >>>  >> look at improving it later. That seems a lot more preferable to
> having a
> > >  >>>  >> fairly nasty API hack that will catch a lot of people out :(
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >> ATB,
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >> Mark.
> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >> --
> > >  >>>  >> Mark Cave-Ayland
> > >  >>>  >> Sirius Corporation - The Open Source Experts
> > >  >>>  >> http://www.siriusit.co.uk
> > >  >>>  >> T: +44 870 608 0063
> > >  >>>  >> _______________________________________________
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> > >  >>>  >>
> > >  >>>  >>
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> > >  >>>  >
> > >  >>>
> > >  >>>  --
> > >  >>>  Martin Davis
> > >  >>>  Senior Technical Architect
> > >  >>>  Refractions Research, Inc.
> > >  >>>  (250) 383-3022
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>  --
>  Martin Davis
>  Senior Technical Architect
>  Refractions Research, Inc.
>  (250) 383-3022
>
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