# blocked_range Template Class¶

## Summary¶

Template class for a recursively divisible half-open interval.

## Syntax¶

template<typename Value> class blocked_range;


## Description¶

A blocked_range<Value> represents a half-open range [i,*j*) that can be recursively split. The types of i and j must model the requirements in the following table. In the table, type D is the type of the expression "j-i". It can be any integral type that is convertible to size_t. Examples that model the Value requirements are integral types, pointers, and STL random-access iterators whose difference can be implicitly converted to a size_t.

A blocked_range models the Range concept.

Value Concept for blocked_range: Pseudo-Signature, Semantics

Value::Value( const Value& )

Copy constructor.

Value::~Value()

Destructor.

void operator=( const Value& )

Note

The return type void in the pseudo-signature denotes that operator= is not required to return a value. The actual operator= can return a value, which will be ignored by blocked_range .

Assignment.

bool operator<( const Value& i, const Value& j )

Value i precedes value j.

D operator-( const Value& i, const Value& j )

Number of values in range [i,j).

Value operator+( const Value& i, D k )

k*th value after *i.

A blocked_range<Value> specifies a grain size of type size_t. A blocked_range is splittable into two subranges if the size of the range exceeds its grain size. The ideal grain size depends upon the context of the blocked_range<Value>, which is typically as the range argument to the loop templates parallel_for, parallel_reduce, or parallel_scan. A too small grain size may cause scheduling overhead within the loop templates to swamp speedup gained from parallelism. A too large grain size may unnecessarily limit parallelism. For example, if the grain size is so large that the range can be split only once, then the maximum possible parallelism is two.

Here is a suggested procedure for choosing a reasonable grain size:

• Set the grainsize parameter to 10,000. This value is high enough to amortize scheduler overhead sufficiently for practically all loop bodies, but may unnecessarily limit parallelism.

• Run your algorithm on one processor.

• Start halving the grainsize parameter and see how much the algorithm slows down as the value decreases.

A slowdown of about 5-10% is a good setting for most purposes.

Tip

For a blocked_range [i,j) where j<i, not all methods have specified behavior. However, enough methods do have specified behavior that parallel_for, parallel_reduce, and parallel_scan iterate over the same iteration space as the serial loop for( Value index=i; index<j; ++index )..., even when j<i. If TBB_USE_ASSERT is nonzero, methods with unspecified behavior raise an assertion failure.

Example

A blocked_range<Value> typically appears as a range argument to a loop template. See the examples for parallel_for, parallel_reduce, and parallel_scan.

## Members¶

namespace tbb {
template<typename Value>
class blocked_range {
public:
// types
typedef size_t size_type;
typedef Value const_iterator;

// constructors
blocked_range( Value begin, Value end,
size_type grainsize=1 );
blocked_range( blocked_range& r, split );
blocked_range( blocked_range& r, proportional_split& proportion );

// Proportional split is enabled
static const bool is_splittable_in_proportion = true;

// capacity
size_type size() const;
bool empty() const;

// access
size_type grainsize() const;
bool is_divisible() const;

// iterators
const_iterator begin() const;
const_iterator end() const;
};
}


Constructors of blocked_range support class template argument deduction for C++17. For example

tbb::blocked_range range(0, 100);


declares range as tbb::blocked_range<int>.

The following table provides additional information on the members of this template class.

Member, Description

size_type

The type for measuring the size of a blocked_range. The type is always a size_t.

const_iterator

The type of a value in the range. Despite its name, the type const_iterator is not necessarily an STL iterator; it merely needs to meet the Value requirements in the table above. However, it is convenient to call it const_iterator so that if it is a const_iterator, then the blocked_range behaves like a read-only STL container.

blocked_range( Value begin, Value end, size_t grainsize=1 )

Requirements: The parameter grainsize must be positive. The debug version of the library raises an assertion failure if this requirement is not met.

Effects: Constructs a blocked_range representing the half-open interval [begin, end) with the given grainsize.

Example: The statement "blocked_range<int> r(5, 14, 2);" constructs a range of int that contains the values 5 through 13 inclusive, with the grain size of 2. Afterwards, r.begin()==5 and r.end()==14.

blocked_range( blocked_range& range, split )

Basic splitting constructor.

Requirements: is_divisible() is true.

Effects: Partitions range into two subranges. The newly constructed blocked_range is approximately the second half of the original range, and range is updated to be the remainder. Each subrange has the same grainsize as the original range.

Example: Let r be a blocked_range that represents a half-open interval [i, j) with a grain size g. Running the statement blocked_range<int> s(r, split); subsequently causes r to represent [i, i+(j-i)/2) and s to represent [i+(j-i)/2, j), both with grain size g.

blocked_range( blocked_range& range, proportional_split proportion )

Proportional splitting constructor.

Requirements: is_divisible() is true.

Effects: Partitions range into two subranges such that the ratio of their sizes is close to the ratio of proportion.left() to proportion.right(). The newly constructed blocked_range is the subrange at the right, and range is updated to be the subrange at the left.

Example: Let r be a blocked_range that represents a half-open interval [i, j) with a grain size g. Running the statement blocked_range<int> s(r, proportional_split(2, 3)); subsequently causes r to represent [i, i+2*(j-i)/(2+3)) and s to represent [i+2*(j-i)/(2+3), j), both with grain size g.

static const bool is_splittable_in_proportion

Special field denotes the ability of blocked_range instances to be split proportionally. Set to true.

size_type size() const

Requirements: end()<begin() is false.

Effects: Determines size of range.

Returns: end()-begin().

bool empty() const

Effects: Determines if range is empty.

Returns: !(begin()<end())

size_type grainsize() const

Returns: Grain size of range.

bool is_divisible() const

Requirements: !(end()<begin())

Effects: Determines if range can be split into subranges.

Returns: True if size()>grainsize(); false otherwise.

const_iterator begin() const

Returns: Inclusive lower bound on range.

const_iterator end() const

Returns: Exclusive upper bound on range.