Eigen::Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > Class Template Reference

A matrix or vector expression mapping an existing expressions. More...

#include <Ref.h>

Inheritance diagram for Eigen::Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType >:

Collaboration diagram for Eigen::Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType >:

Public Types
typedef RefBase< Ref >	Base
Public Types inherited from Eigen::RefBase< Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > >
typedef MapBase< Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > >	Base

Public Member Functions
template<typename Derived >
	Ref (PlainObjectBase< Derived > &expr, typename internal::enable_if< bool(Traits::template match< Derived >::MatchAtCompileTime), Derived >::type *=0)
template<typename Derived >
	Ref (const DenseBase< Derived > &expr, typename internal::enable_if< bool(internal::is_lvalue< Derived >::value &&bool(Traits::template match< Derived >::MatchAtCompileTime)), Derived >::type *=0, int=Derived::ThisConstantIsPrivateInPlainObjectBase)
Public Member Functions inherited from Eigen::RefBase< Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > >
Index	innerStride () const
Index	outerStride () const

Additional Inherited Members
Protected Types inherited from Eigen::RefBase< Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > >
typedef Stride< StrideType::OuterStrideAtCompileTime, StrideType::InnerStrideAtCompileTime >	StrideBase
Protected Member Functions inherited from Eigen::RefBase< Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > >
void	construct (Expression &expr)
Protected Attributes inherited from Eigen::RefBase< Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType > >
StrideBase	m_stride

Detailed Description

template<typename PlainObjectType, int Options, typename StrideType>
class Eigen::Ref< PlainObjectType, Options, StrideType >

A matrix or vector expression mapping an existing expressions.

Template Parameters

PlainObjectType	the equivalent matrix type of the mapped data
Options	specifies whether the pointer is #Aligned, or #Unaligned. The default is #Unaligned.
StrideType	optionally specifies strides. By default, Ref implies a contiguous storage along the inner dimension (inner stride==1), but accept a variable outer stride (leading dimension). This can be overridden by specifying strides. The type passed here must be a specialization of the Stride template, see examples below.

This class permits to write non template functions taking Eigen's object as parameters while limiting the number of copies. A Ref<> object can represent either a const expression or a l-value:

// in-out argument:
void foo1(Ref<VectorXf> x);

// read-only const argument:
void foo2(const Ref<const VectorXf>& x);

In the in-out case, the input argument must satisfies the constraints of the actual Ref<> type, otherwise a compilation issue will be triggered. By default, a Ref<VectorXf> can reference any dense vector expression of float having a contiguous memory layout. Likewise, a Ref<MatrixXf> can reference any column major dense matrix expression of float whose column's elements are contiguously stored with the possibility to have a constant space inbetween each column, i.e.: the inner stride mmust be equal to 1, but the outer-stride (or leading dimension), can be greater than the number of rows.

In the const case, if the input expression does not match the above requirement, then it is evaluated into a temporary before being passed to the function. Here are some examples:

MatrixXf A;
VectorXf a;
foo1(a.head());             // OK
foo1(A.col());              // OK
foo1(A.row());              // compilation error because here innerstride!=1
foo2(A.row());              // The row is copied into a contiguous temporary
foo2(2*a);                  // The expression is evaluated into a temporary
foo2(A.col().segment(2,4)); // No temporary

The range of inputs that can be referenced without temporary can be enlarged using the last two template parameter. Here is an example accepting an innerstride!=1:

// in-out argument:
void foo3(Ref<VectorXf,0,InnerStride<> > x);
foo3(A.row());              // OK

The downside here is that the function foo3 might be significantly slower than foo1 because it won't be able to exploit vectorization, and will involved more expensive address computations even if the input is contiguously stored in memory. To overcome this issue, one might propose to overloads internally calling a template function, e.g.:

// in the .h:
void foo(const Ref<MatrixXf>& A);
void foo(const Ref<MatrixXf,0,Stride<> >& A);

// in the .cpp:
template<typename TypeOfA> void foo_impl(const TypeOfA& A) {
    ... // crazy code goes here
}
void foo(const Ref<MatrixXf>& A) { foo_impl(A); }
void foo(const Ref<MatrixXf,0,Stride<> >& A) { foo_impl(A); }

See also

PlainObjectBase::Map(), TopicStorageOrders

Definition at line 17 of file Ref.h.

---

The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

• C:/Users/Brig/Documents/ShapeWorksStudio/src/Surfworks/Eigen/src/Core/Ref.h