You see, my CVector3 class is defined with float x,y,z member variables, and x,y,z is the way I like to use when manipulating Vectors, however some stuff can be optimized by having the variables defines as float v[3].
I dont want to use a union because that cluters the class too much, (I mean who wants code that looks like: Normal.u.v[2]), so I have been looking to use references for a while.
Turns out it is NOT hard at all, all you need to do is set the references on the constructor Initialization list, without further ado I give you the dual vector3 class:
#ifndef ALIGN16#ifdef __GNUC__#define ALIGN16 __attribute__ ((aligned (16)))#elif _MSC_VER#define ALIGN16 __declspec(align(16))#else#define ALIGN16#endif#endifclass vector3{ vector3() : x(v[0]),y(v[1]),z(v[2]) {};public: ALIGN16 float v[3]; float &x float &y float &z};Now you can amaze your friends by accessing the vector by its x,y,z references or by using the powerfull SSE MOVAPS instruction to load your vector back and forth to a SSE register
__asm__( "movaps %0,%%xmm0\n\t" "movaps %1,%%xmm1\n\t" "mulps %%xmm1,%%xmm0\n\t" "movaps %%xmm0,%2\n\t" : : "m" (vector1.v),"m" (vector2.v),"m" (vector3.v) : "%xmm0","%xmm1");That Multiplies vector1 and vector2 and saves the result into vector3 (I Think [smile])
Edit: This will add at least 12 bytes to each object, so may not be a good idea memory wise [sad], if you can live with that, go for it.
More Edit:
Well What do you know, this approach gives you a 32 byte vector object, whereas if you just omit the references and use ALIGN16 float x,y,z, you get a 48 byte object, the ALIGN16 float[3] would probably give you the best size for doing SSE stuff though.
I am not losing my time converting over now, but I might later.
