Benchmarks of prototypes of different Enum options

gistfile1.jl

import Base.length

immutable MyOrdinalValue12
	index::Uint8
	pool::Vector{ASCIIString}
end

immutable MyPooledDataArray1
	index::Vector{Uint8}
	pool::Vector{ASCIIString}
end

immutable MyOrdinalValue3
	index::Uint8
	enum::Uint32
end

immutable MyPooledDataArray3
	index::Vector{Uint8}
	enum::Uint32
end

function make_type(pool)
	tn = gensym()
	eval(quote
		immutable $tn
			index::Uint8
		end
		pool(T::$tn) = pool
		$tn
	end)
end

getindex(v::MyPooledDataArray1, i::Int) = MyOrdinalValue12(v.index[i], v.pool)
length(v::MyPooledDataArray1) = length(v.index)

getindex(v::MyPooledDataArray3, i::Int) = MyOrdinalValue3(v.index[i], v.enum)
length(v::MyPooledDataArray3) = length(v.index)

function test_access(x)
	s = 0
	for i = 1:length(x)
		s += x[i].index
	end
end

function test(silent::Bool)
	n_data = 1_000
	n_vars = 100
	x = convert(Vector{Uint8}, rand(1:3, n_data))

	t = @elapsed for i = 1:n_vars
		pool = ["level1", "level2", "level3"]
		v1 = MyPooledDataArray1(x, pool)
		test_access(v1)
	end
	silent || println("option 1: $t")

	t = @elapsed for i = 1:n_vars
		pool = ["level1", "level2", "level3"]
		v2 = [MyOrdinalValue12(y, pool) for y in x]
		test_access(v2)
	end
	silent || println("option 2: $t")

	t = @elapsed for i = 1:n_vars
		pool = ["level1", "level2", "level3"]
		v3 = [MyOrdinalValue3(y, uint16(1)) for y in x]
		test_access(v3)
	end
	silent || println("option 3: $t")

	t = @elapsed for i = 1:n_vars
		pool = ["level1", "level2", "level3"]
		v35 = MyPooledDataArray3(x, 1)
		test_access(v35)
	end
	silent || println("option 3.5: $t")

	t = @elapsed for i = 1:n_vars
		pool = ["level1", "level2", "level3"]
		tn = make_type(pool)
		v4 = reinterpret(tn, x)
		test_access(v4)
	end
	silent || println("option 4: $t")
end

test(true)
test(false)