A comparison of execution times for a static method and a dynamic method in C++

static-vs-dynamic-methods.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdlib>
#include <Windows.h>
#include <limits.h>

using namespace std;

class Base
{
  public:
  
  virtual int ExecuteDynamicMethod() = 0;
  
  int ExecuteStaticMethod()
  {
    return rand() % INT_MAX;
  }
};

class Derived: public Base
{
  public:
  
  int ExecuteDynamicMethod()
  {
    return rand() % INT_MAX;
  }
};

//  Windows
#ifdef _WIN32
#include <Windows.h>
double getWallTime(){
  LARGE_INTEGER time,freq;
  
  if (!QueryPerformanceFrequency(&freq)){
    cout << "There was an error in the getWallTime method\n";
    throw;
  }
  
  if (!QueryPerformanceCounter(&time)){
    cout << "There was an error in the getWallTime method\n";
    throw;
  }
  
  return (double)time.QuadPart / freq.QuadPart;
}

//  Posix/Linux
#else
#include <time.h>
#include <sys/time.h>
double getWallTime(){
  struct timeval time;
  
  if (gettimeofday(&time,NULL)){
    cout << "There was an error in the getWallTime method\n";
    throw;
  }
  
  return (double)time.tv_sec + (double)time.tv_usec * .000001;
}
#endif

double getStaticExecutionTime(Base * base)
{
  double start = getWallTime();
  
  for(unsigned i = 0; i < 100000000; i++)
  {
    base->ExecuteStaticMethod();
  }
  return getWallTime() - start;
  
}

double getDynamicExecutionTime(Base * base)
{
  double start = getWallTime();
  
  for(unsigned i = 0; i < 100000000; i++)
  {
    base->ExecuteDynamicMethod();
  }
  
  return getWallTime() - start;
}

void printResults(double staticTime, double dynamicTime)
{
  cout << "Time to execute static method: " << staticTime << " seconds.\n";
  cout << "Time to execute dynamic method: " << dynamicTime << " seconds.\n";
  cout << "The dynamic method took " << dynamicTime - staticTime << " seconds longer to execute.\n";
}

int main()
{
  srand(getWallTime());
  Base * base = new Derived();
  double staticTime = getStaticExecutionTime(base);
  double dynamicTime = getDynamicExecutionTime(base);
  printResults(staticTime, dynamicTime);
  
  return 0;
}

/*
  ------------
  Results
  ------------
  Time to execute static method: 1.51672 seconds.
  Time to execute dynamic method: 1.56267 seconds.
  The dynamic method took 0.045955 seconds longer to execute.

*/