Use delegates instead of reflection

[winxalex]

Reflection are slow. Type cache speed up a bit. Delegates are faster then reflection. Then we boost them even more by generating them in IL
https://github.com/vexe/Fast.Reflection

[axunonb]

Did you benchmark type cache against using delegates?

[winxalex]

Smart.Format ReflectionSource:

TypeCache is concurrent dictionary using tuple (sourceType, selector) as key.

if (IsTypeCacheEnabled && TypeCache.TryGetValue((sourceType, selector), out var found))
        {
            if (found.field != null)
            {
                selectorInfo.Result = found.field.GetValue(current);<--- classic reflection
                return true;
            }

            if (found.method != null)
            {
                selectorInfo.Result = found.method.Invoke(current, Empty);<--- classic reflection
                return true;
            }

            return false;
        }

Fast Reflection use caching also, but value is not MemberInfo, but Delegate.

static Dictionary<int, Delegate> cache = new Dictionary<int, Delegate>();
int key is hashcode by Type, MethodInfo,FieldInfo,PropertyInfo....
Ofcourse you can add selector into hashcode equation (???)
Slow down is execution after cash retrieval.

Delegate can be obtained in several ways.

public class Foo
{
    public string Bar(int value) { return value.ToString(); }
}

void Main()
{
    object foo = new Foo();

    // We have an instance of something and want to call a method with this signature on it :
    // public string Bar(int value);

    Console.WriteLine("Cast and Direct method call");
    {
        var result = ((Foo)foo).Bar(42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Create a lambda closing on the local scope.");
    {
        // Useless but i'll do it at the end by manual il generation

        Func<int, string> func = i => ((Foo)foo).Bar(i);
        var result = func(42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Using MethodInfo.Invoke");
    {
        var method = foo.GetType().GetMethod("Bar");
        var result = (string)method.Invoke(foo, new object[] { 42 });
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Using the dynamic keyword");
    {
        var dynamicFoo = (dynamic)foo;
        var result = (string)dynamicFoo.Bar(42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Using CreateDelegate");
    {
        var method = foo.GetType().GetMethod("Bar");
        var func = (Func<int, string>)Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<int, string>), foo, method);
        var result = func(42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Create an expression and compile it to call the delegate on one instance.");
    {
        var method = foo.GetType().GetMethod("Bar");
        var thisParam = Expression.Constant(foo);
        var valueParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(int), "value");
        var call = Expression.Call(thisParam, method, valueParam);
        var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<int, string>>(call, valueParam);
        var func = lambda.Compile();
        var result = func(42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Create an expression and compile it to a delegate that could be called on any instance.");
    {
        // Note that in this case "Foo" must be known at compile time, obviously in this case you want
        // to do more than call a method, otherwise just call it !
        var type = foo.GetType();
        var method = type.GetMethod("Bar");
        var thisParam = Expression.Parameter(type, "this");
        var valueParam = Expression.Parameter(typeof(int), "value");
        var call = Expression.Call(thisParam, method, valueParam);
        var lambda = Expression.Lambda<Func<Foo, int, string>>(call, thisParam, valueParam);
        var func = lambda.Compile();
        var result = func((Foo)foo, 42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Create a DynamicMethod and compile it to a delegate that could be called on any instance.");
    {
        // Same thing as the previous expression sample. Foo need to be known at compile time and need
        // to be provided to the delegate.

        var type = foo.GetType();
        var method = type.GetMethod("Bar");

        var dynamicMethod = new DynamicMethod("Bar_", typeof(string), new [] { typeof(Foo), typeof(int) }, true);
        var il = dynamicMethod.GetILGenerator();
        il.DeclareLocal(typeof(string));
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1);
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method);
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);
        var func = (Func<Foo, int, string>)dynamicMethod.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<Foo, int, string>));
        var result = func((Foo)foo, 42);
        result.Dump();
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Simulate closure without closures and in a lot more lines...");
    {
        var type = foo.GetType();
        var method = type.GetMethod("Bar");

        // The Foo class must be public for this to work, the "skipVisibility" argument of
        // DynamicMethod.CreateDelegate can't be emulated without breaking the .Net security model.

        var assembly = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.DefineDynamicAssembly(
            new AssemblyName("MyAssembly"), AssemblyBuilderAccess.Run);
        var module = assembly.DefineDynamicModule("MyModule");
        var tb = module.DefineType("MyType", TypeAttributes.Class | TypeAttributes.Public);

        var fooField = tb.DefineField("FooInstance", type, FieldAttributes.Public);
        var barMethod = tb.DefineMethod("Bar_", MethodAttributes.Public, typeof(string), new [] { typeof(int) });
        var il = barMethod.GetILGenerator();
        il.DeclareLocal(typeof(string));
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0); // this
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldfld, fooField);
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1); // arg
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Call, method);
        il.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

        var closureType = tb.CreateType();

        var instance = closureType.GetConstructors().Single().Invoke(new object[0]);

        closureType.GetField(fooField.Name).SetValue(instance, foo);

        var methodOnClosureType = closureType.GetMethod("Bar_");

        var func = (Func<int, string>)Delegate.CreateDelegate(typeof(Func<int, string>), instance,
            closureType.GetMethod("Bar_"));
        var result = func(42);
        result.Dump();
    }
}

The link you send me refer to Delegate compiled from Expressions.
FastReflection use DynamicMethod to create Delegate by emitting IL....
I wish to belief to this benchmark more.

[axunonb]

Thanks for that.
Still, without a benchmark, it is difficult to say whether the better performance of DynamicMethod justifies the higher complexity for the typical SmartFormat use cases. Would you give this a try?