Hi! I hope you are doing well.
If you are in love(!) with vectors and you use them a lot, you probably know that defining a multidimensional vector is just a pain in the neck! For example if you are trying to define a 3 dimensional vector with (n, m, k)
as dimensions you have to write it like this :
vector<vector<vector<int>>> a(n, vector<vector<int>>(m, vector<int>(k)));
Then you change your mind and realize that your data will not fit in an int
. You decide to change it to long long
.
vector<vector<vector<long long>>> a(n, vector<vector<int>>(m, vector<int>(k)));
[HITS COMPILE BUTTON] Oops! won't compile (G++ really get's mad at you). Go on and change inner vectors as well.
vector<vector<vector<long long>>> a(n, vector<vector<long long>>(m, vector<long long>(k)));
So if you want a 100 dimensional vector of long long
s, you literally have to say it 100 times to the compiler that you want your data to be long long
.
Well what's the solution?
N dimensional vector using template meta programming
So yes, there is this thing called template meta programming which I'm not going to discuss here. But you can do cool things with it! One of the cool things is just N dimensional vector (basically D dimensional!). Here's the code:
template<int D, typename T>
struct Vec : public vector<Vec<D - 1, T>> {
static_assert(D >= 1, "Vector dimension must be greater than zero!");
template<typename... Args>
Vec(int n = 0, Args... args) : vector<Vec<D - 1, T>>(n, Vec<D - 1, T>(args...)) {
}
};
template<typename T>
struct Vec<1, T> : public vector<T> {
Vec(int n = 0, const T& val = T()) : vector<T>(n, val) {
}
};
This is essentially publicly inheriting from vector<vector<vector< ... vector<T> ... >>>
in which vector
appears D
times!
It has a constructor which takes dimensions in order and if you want to initialize your multidimensional vector with some value you can pass that value to the constructor as the last argument otherwise it will be initialized with zero (or if it's a class it will be initialized using default constructor). If you provide less than D
numbers to the constructor, following dimensions will have length equal to zero.
A few examples :
Vec<2, int> a(10, 50); // int a[10][50] initialized with zero
Vec<3, double> b(n, m, k, 3.14); // double b[n][m][k] initialized with 3.14
Vec<3, long long> c(5, 5); // the third dimension has no value yet
c[0][0].push_back(100); // now c[0][0][0] has a value (100) but others don't
Vec<4, int> d(10, 10);
d[2][3].push_back(Vec<1, int>(100, 12345)); // now d[2][3][0] is a vector with 100 values of 12345
Vec<1, string> e; // just blank vector of strings
Based on C++11 (or above) standard this code will compile.
Template arguments must be compile time constants, for example Vec<n, int>
in which n
is the user input, won't compile, which makes a lot of sense.
I loved your effort. It is awesome.
Nice use of templates, added to my library. Keep doing such experiments
What the heck, I don't know why only I am getting downvotes?? Did I comment something wrong?
Salute you,brother. You saved my time.
Awesome, you just discovered arrays!
Just kidding, well done!
Fuck array. All my homies use vector.
Bookmarked!!
مهبل كس مهبل مهبل ديك لول موظر مص الحمار الحمار لعق الشرج
Wow! You've written a poem! What's behind this text?
P=NP proof
I think I've got it more elegant:
It requires C++17. Usage:
That creates a
vector<vector<long long>>
of sizen
bym
filled with value0
. As you see, the code is shorter and it doesn't need constant sizes.Thanks kwazar for showing this neat trick. Working example: https://codeforces.net/contest/1336/submission/77118622
That's interesting and the good part I think is that you don't inherit from std::vector.
However I like to be explicit about type of the container. When I write
Vec<3, int>
I know it's a 3 dimensional vector of ints, and if I don't care about the third dimensions size, I just don't write it there (Vec<3, int> a(n, m)
and the third dimension is yet to be decided).Also I think there is a misunderstanding about what I said in the last line. I just said the number of dimensions must be compile time constant not the dimension size and something like
Vec<2, long long> v(n, m, 0)
is completely legit in my code.The last argument explicitly tells the compiler what type it should be.
auto dp = create(n, m, int(42))
is even more specific. If that isn't explicit enough, you can look at this:I find
create(n, m, 0, 0)
more readable and less error-prone thanVec<3, int>(n, m)
, though that might be my personal preference.tnowak How to pass this to function?
The shortest way would be:
Usage:
cout << f(dp) << '\n';
Getting
'auto' not allowed in function prototype
https://codeforces.net/contest/1336/submission/77287957 For me it is working. Alternatively use this code:
That kind of template is really useful. I have been experimenting in-contest with a similar one.
One feature I added to my template that I liked, is to override the operator() so you can query and assign using syntax:
dp(i, j, k)
instead of the usualdp[i][j][k]
,for example this 76759577
Yeah, I was once thinking about it, it's probably easier to write, however you may confuse it with normal function call. It would have been way better to be able to write it like
dp[i, j, k]
butoperator[]
has to take only one parameter.This can also be done using the template argument deduction feature of C++17. This produces a 100x200x300 3D array.
Two issues:
1- C++17 (some OJs don't support it even though they should IMO)
2- You still have to write "vector" for each dimension.
BTW it's a matter of taste I guess.
Thanks for sharing this trick! Unfortunately, clang doesn't accept this code, which is problematic for those who use clang-powered auto-completion like me :(
Btw, if you're after something sufficiently practical and easy to remember rather than fancy template metaprogramming, defining your own derived classes
vec1D<T>
,vec2D<T>
etc also works. It's not like you're ever going to use a 5 times nested vector, it will have some tiny dimensions and the memory access overhead will be crazy.I want to initialize Vec<1, T> with initializer list like vector{}. Does anyone have a method to do this?
The easiest way to tweak the code to support what you wanted (that came to my mind) :
then you will be able to initialize it with another vector like this:
Note that it is still possible to use it the old way.