microsoft / microsoft/STL

<bitset>: Use fewer bytes for small bitsets

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performance vNext
Dominant language
C++
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Description

Currently, bitset consumes at least 4 bytes:

https://github.com/microsoft/STL/blob/19c683d70647f9d89d47f5a0ad25165fc8becbf3/stl/inc/bitset#L23-L29

This is a penalty for users who want to use a small bitset as a more-strongly-typed replacement for a small integer.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading stl/inc/bitset around the linked lines to understand the current minimum storage layout. Determine the constraints for reducing storage for small bitsets while preserving bitset behavior and compatibility. Done means a smaller representation is implemented and covered by the relevant bitset tests, though no specific test file is named in the issue.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
performance
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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