Wsrtjtyk

I am writing a function to find the average of an array in which the array is mostly numbers that would overflow if added all at once.

It works by creating a subarray(b in my code) that is half the input(a in my code) array's size(ar_size in my code) and then places the average of 2 values from the input array a[i+0] and a[i+1] with no overlap into b[j].

Once it iterates through the entire input array, it reruns the function with returning the subarray and the input array size until the size equals 2 and then ends the recursion by returning the average of the two values of b[2].

Please pardon the reuse of j.

Also the size of the array is some power of two.

uint64_t* array_average(uint64_t* a, const int ar_size)

{

    uint64_t* b = new uint64_t[ar_size / 2];



    uint64_t* j = new uint64_t;



    if (ar_size == 2)

    {

     *j = (a[0] / 2) + (a[1] / 2) + ((a[0] % 2 + a[1] % 2) / 2);



     return j;

    }



    for (int i = 0; i < ar_size; i += 2)

    {

        b[*j] = (a[i + 0] / 2) + (a[i + 1] / 2) + ((a[i + 0] % 2 + a[i + 1] % 2) / 2);



        ++*j;

    }

    delete j;

    return array_average(b, ar_size / 2);

}

Also anyone have a better way to average while working with numbers that would cause an overflow to happen?

Here is a revised version:

uint64_t* tools::array_average(uint64_t* a, const int ar_size)

{

    uint64_t* b = new uint64_t[ar_size];

    uint64_t* c = new uint64_t[ar_size / 2];



    int j;

    j = 0;



    for (int i = 0; i < ar_size; ++i)

    {

        b[i] = a[i];

    }



    if (runs > 0) //This is so i do not delete the original input array I.E not done with it

    {

        delete a;

    }



    if (ar_size == 2)

    {

        uint64_t* y = new uint64_t;



        runs = 0;



        *y = (b[0] / 2) + (b[1] / 2) + ((b[0] % 2 + b[1] % 2) / 2); 



        delete b;



        return y;

    }



    for (int i = 0; i < ar_size; i += 2)

    {

        c[j] = (b[i + 0] / 2) + (b[i + 1] / 2) + ((b[i + 0] % 2 + b[i + 1] % 2) / 2);



        ++j;

    }



    delete b;



    ++runs;



    return array_average(c, ar_size / 2);

First of all, be aware that your average is not the actual average, as you do throw away one halfs. The result of your algorithm on an array that alternates between 0 and 1 would be 0, as 0/2 + 1/2 + (0%2 + 1%2)/2 = 0. Wanted to start with that, because that is a serious weakness of your algorithm.

Also note that if the original size is not a power of 2, some data will get a higher weight.

Aside from that, consider this algorithm: Copy the data. Until the data has only one entry left, put the average of cells 0 and 1 in cell 0, that of 2 and 3 in cell 1, 4 and 5 in 2 and so on. Shrink the data after each such step.

As code:

uint64_t average(std::vector<uint64_t> data)

{

    while(data.size() != 1)

    {

        for(size_t i=0; i<data.size()/2; i++)

        {

            data[i] = data[2*i]/2 + data[2*i+1]/2 + /* modular stuff */;

        }

        data.resize(data.size()/2 + data.size()%2); //last part is required if the size is not an even number

    }

    return data[0];

}

Using a proper container here also gets rid of your memory leak, by the way.

Note that this code still has the weakness I talked about. You could extent it by collecting the halves, that is if your modular part is 1, you increase a variable, and when the variable is at two, you add a one in some cell.

Edit: If the input HAS to be a raw array (because you receive it from some external source, for example), use this:

uint64_t average(uint64_t* array, const int array_size)

{

    std::vector<uint64_t> data(array, array + array_size);



    (rest of the code is identical)

Edit: code above with collecting halves:

inline uint64_t average(const uint64_t& a, const uint64_t& b, uint8_t& left_halves)

{

    uint64_t value = a/2 + b/2 + (a%2 + b%2)/2;

    if((a%2 + b%2)%2 == 1)

    {

        left_halves += 1;

    }

    if(left_halves == 2)

    {

        value += 1;

        left_halves = 0;

    }

    return value;

}



uint64_t average(std::vector<uint64_t> data)

{

    if(data.size() == 0) return 0;



    uint8_t left_halves = 0;

    while(data.size() != 1)

    {

        for(size_t i=0; i<data.size()/2; i++)

        {

            data[i] = average(data[2*i], data[2*i+1], left_halves);

        }

        data.resize(data.size()/2 + data.size()%2); //last part is required if the size is not an even number

    }

    return data[0];

}

Still has the weakness of increased cell weight if size is not a power of two.

You might use:

constexpr bool is_power_of_2(uint64_t n)

{

    return n && !(n & (n - 1));

}



uint64_t array_average(std::vector<uint64_t> v)

{

    if (!is_power_of_2(v.size())) {

        throw std::runtime_error("invalid size");

    }

    uint64_t remainder = 0;

    while (v.size() != 1) {

        for (int i = 0; i != v.size(); i += 2) {

            remainder += (a[i] % 2 + a[i + 1] % 2);

            b[i / 2] = a[i] / 2 + a[i + 1] / 2;

            if (remainder >= 2 && b[i / 2] < -(remainder / 2)) {

                b[i / 2] += remainder / 2;

                remainder %= 2;

            }

        }

        v.resize(v.size() / 2);

    }

    return v[0] + remainder / 2;

}

There really shouldn't be that much to convert as there are containers, functions and algorithms in the stl that already exist that will do this for you. With out any function examine this short program:

#include <vector>

#include <numeric>

#include <iostream>

#include <exception>



int main() {

    try {



        std::vector<uint64_t> values{ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 };

        int total = std::accumulate( values.begin(), values.end(), 0 );

        uint64_t average = static_cast<uint64_t>( total ) / values.size();

        std::cout << average << 'n';



    } catch( const std::runtime_error& e ) {

        std::cerr << e.what() << 'n';

        return EXIT_FAILURE;

    }

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;

}

On my machine windows 7 ultimate 64bit running visual studio 2017 CE compiled with language version set to most recent c++17 or greater. This does give me a compiler warning! Warning: C4244 generated due to conversion and possible loss of data. However there are no compiler errors and it does run and give the expected result. The output here is 6 as expected since integer division is truncated. If I change these lines of code above to this:

double total = std::accumulate( values.begin(), values.end(),

                            static_cast<double>( 0 ) );

double average = total / values.size();

It fixes the compiler warnings above by adding the static_cast and it sure enough prints out 6.5 which is the actual value.

This is all fine and good since the vector is already initialized with values; however, this may not be always the case so let's move this into a function that will take an arbitrary array. It would look something like this:

uint64_t array_average( std::vector<uint64_t>& values ) {

    // Prevent Division by 0 and early return 

    // as to not call `std::accumulate`

    if ( !values.empty() ) {

        // check if only 1 entry if so just return it

        if ( values.size() == 1 ) {

            return values[0];

        } else { // otherwise do the calculation.

            return std::accumulate( values.begin(), values.end(),

                                    static_cast<uint64_t>( 0 ) ) / values.size();

        } 

    } 

    // Empty Container 

    throw std::runtime_error( "Can not take average of an empty container" );

}

This function is nice and all, we can do better by improving this by making it a little more generic that will work with any arithmetic type!

template<typename T>

T array_average( std::vector<T>& values ) {

    if( std::is_arithmetic<T>::value ) {

        if( !values.empty() ) {

            if( values.size() == 1 ) {

                return values[0];

            } else { 

                return std::accumulate( values.begin(), values.end(), static_cast<T>( 0 ) ) / values.size();

            }

        } else {

            throw std::runtime_error( "Can not take average of an empty container" ); 

        }

    } else {

        throw std::runtime_error( "T is not of an arithmetic type" );

    }

}

At first glance this looks okay. This will compile and run if you use this with types that are arithmetic. However, if we use it with a type that isn't this will fail to compile. For example:

#include <vector>

#include <numeric>

#include <iostream>

#include <exception>

#include <type_traits>



class Fruit {

protected:

     std::string name_;

public:

    std::string operator()() const {

        return name_;

    }

    std::string name() const { return name_; }



    Fruit operator+( const Fruit& other ) {

        this->name_ += " " + other.name();

        return *this;

    }

};



class Apple : public Fruit {

public:

    Apple() { this->name_ = "Apple"; }



};



class Banana : public Fruit {

public:

    Banana() { this->name_ = "Banana"; }

};



class Pear : public Fruit {

public:

    Pear() { this->name_ = "Pear"; }

};



std::ostream& operator<<( std::ostream& os, const Fruit& fruit ) {

    os << fruit.name() << " ";

    return os;

}



template<typename T>

T array_average( std::vector<T>& values ); // Using the definition above



int main() {

    try {

        std::vector<uint64_t> values { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 };

        std::vector<double> values2 { 2.0, 3.5, 4.5, 6.7, 8.9 };

        std::vector<Fruit> fruits { Apple(), Banana(), Pear() };



        std::cout << array_average( values ) << 'n';  // compiles runs and prints 6

        std::cout << array_average( values2 ) << 'n'; // compiles runs and prints 5.12

        std::cout << array_average( fruits ) << 'n'; // fails to compile.



    } catch( const std::runtime_error& e ) {

        std::cerr << e.what() << 'n';

        return EXIT_FAILURE;

    }

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;

}

This fails to compile because the static_cast can not convert int to T with T = Fruit MSVC compiler error C2440

We can fix this by changing a single line of code in our function template if your compiler supports it:

We can change if( std::is_arithmetic<T>::value ) to if constexpr( std::is_arithmetic<T>::value ) and our function will now look like this:

template<typename T>

T array_average( const std::vector<T>& values ) {

    if constexpr( std::is_arithmetic<T>::value ) {

        if( !values.empty() ) {

            if( values.size() == 1 ) {

                return values[0];

            } else {

                return std::accumulate( values.begin(), values.end(), static_cast<T>( 0 ) ) / values.size();

            }

        } else {

            throw std::runtime_error( "Can not take average of an empty container" );

        }

    } else {

        throw std::runtime_error( "T is not of an arithmetic type" );

    }

}

You can run the same program above and it will fully compile even when you are using types that are not arithmetic.

int main() {

    //....

    std::cout << array_average( fruits ) << 'n'; // Now compiles

    //...

}

However when you run this code it will generate a Runtime Error and depending on how your IDE and debugger is setup you may need to put a break point within the catch statement where the return EXIT_FAILURE is to see the message printed to the screen, otherwise the application may just exit without any notification at all.

If you don't want runtime errors you can substitute and produce compiler time errors by using static_assert instead of throwing a runtime error. This can be a handy little function, but it isn't 100% without some minor limitations and gotchas, but to find out more information about this function you can check the Question that I had asked when I was writing the implementation to this function that can be found here and you can read the comments there that will give you more insight to some of the limitations that this function provides.

One of the current limitations with this function would be this: let's say we have a container that has a bunch of complex numbers (3i + 2), (4i - 6), (7i + 3) well you can still take the average of these as it is a valid thing, but the above function will not consider this to be arithmetic in it's current state.

To resolve this issue what can be done is this: instead of using std::is_arithmetic<t> you could write your own policy and traits that this function should accept. I'll leave that part as an exercise for you.

As you can see a majority of the work is already being done for us with the standard library. We used accumulate and divided by the containers size and we were done, the rest of the time involved was making sure it accepts proper types, if it's to be thread safe and or exception safe etc.

Finally we did not have to worry about cumbersome for loops on arrays and making sure the loops didn't exceed the size of the array. We did not have to call new and worry about when and where to call delete in order to not have any memory leaks. ASFAIK I do not think that std::accumulate will overflow on supporting containers, but don't quote me on this one. It may depend on the types that are in the container and that there is a static_cast involved. Even with some of these caveats in many cases it is still better to use containers than managing your own raw memory, and to use the algorithms and functions that are designed to work on them. They make things a lot simpler and easier to manage and even debug.