Simple dictionary in C++

Question

Moving some code from Python to C++.

BASEPAIRS = { \"T\": \"A\", \"A\": \"T\", \"G\": \"C\", \"C\": \"G\" }

Thinking maps might be overkill? W

Answer 1

This is the fastest, simplest, smallest space solution I can think of. A good optimizing compiler will even remove the cost of accessing the pair and name arrays. This solution works equally well in C.

#include 

enum Base_enum { A, C, T, G };
typedef enum Base_enum Base;
static const Base pair[4] = { T, G, A, C };
static const char name[4] = { 'A', 'C', 'T', 'G' };
static const Base base[85] = 
  { -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
    -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
    -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
    -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 
    -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
    -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
    -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,  A, -1,  C, -1, -1,
    -1,  G, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 
    -1, -1, -1, -1,  T };

const Base
base2 (const char b)
{
  switch (b)
    {
    case 'A': return A;
    case 'C': return C;
    case 'T': return T;
    case 'G': return G;
    default: abort ();
    }
}

int
main (int argc, char *args) 
{
  for (Base b = A; b <= G; b++)
    {
      std::cout << name[b] << ":" 
                << name[pair[b]] << std::endl;
    }
  for (Base b = A; b <= G; b++)
    {
      std::cout << name[base[name[b]]] << ":" 
                << name[pair[base[name[b]]]] << std::endl;
    }
  for (Base b = A; b <= G; b++)
    {
      std::cout << name[base2(name[b])] << ":" 
                << name[pair[base2(name[b])]] << std::endl;
    }
};

base[] is a fast ascii char to Base (i.e. int between 0 and 3 inclusive) lookup that is a bit ugly. A good optimizing compiler should be able to handle base2() but I'm not sure if any do.