Lately, I’ve been using observers to allow an object to observe changes to its own properties. This means I don’t have to override the setter method (I’m using synthesized properties) and the observation is managed the same way that it would be externally. The current KVO implementation (at least, in non-GC land,) however, doesn’t allow you to remove observations from yourself in your -dealloc method. This is due to the way KVO works, by interposing a KVODeallocate function before your -dealloc method. It expects that all observers of the object have been removed at this point, and warns if they are not. This is, of course, blindingly annoying — you now have to create a method that gets called on your objects by their owner before they dealloc so that they can remove their observers.

To fix this, I’ve done a little interposing of my own, putting in another dealloc method before KVODealloc that will remove self observers and call a -KVODealloc method on the deallocating observer object before KVODeallocate is called. If you don’t want automatic removal, simply return NO from +automaticallyRemoveSelfObservations on the class of your choice.

The new updates are in SVN at http://svn.shiftedbits.org/public/KVOAdditions/trunk and tagged at http://svn.shiftedbits.org/public/KVOAdditions/tags/1.2

Version 1.2 also adds new methods for removing an observer that include a selector parameter.

NSObject:

- (void)removeObserver:(NSObject *)observer
            forKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
              selector:(SEL)selector;

NSArray:

- (void)removeObserver:(NSObject *)observer
  fromObjectsAtIndexes:(NSIndexSet *)indexes
            forKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
              selector:(SEL)selector;

The selector is now considered a unique part of the observation, and so a class can observe a single property on a single object using multiple selectors. This allows a class and its subclass to avoid collisions when observing a single object.

The -removeObserver:forKeyPath: method now no longer removes selector-based observers.

When I use observers, I usually want a method called on my class when a change occurs, similar to target/action with UI elements. So my -[NSObject observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:change:context:] is basically a set of if’s for each key I’m observing that calls the appropriate method.

This turns out to be pretty nasty, especially when you have multiple classes in a hierarchy implementing the method. It wasn’t obvious to me that I needed to call super in this method. Thirty minutes of debugging later, and I was convinced there had to be a better way of doing it.

To this effort, I present two new APIs. To NSObject, I add -[NSObject addObserver:forKeyPath:options:selector:] and to NSArray, -[NSArray addObserver:toObjectsAtIndexes:forKeyPath:options:selector]. The code is available here, or keep reading for the details.

Update 1.1: Two critical bug fixes. Please update to the new version if you have the old one. Also, anonymous svn is now available if you want to use an external. http://svn.shiftedbits.org/public/KVOAdditions/trunk.

NSObject:

@interface NSObject (KVOAdditions)

- (void)addObserver:(NSObject *)observer
         forKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
            options:(NSKeyValueObservingOptions)options
           selector:(SEL)aSelector;

@end

NSArray:

@interface NSArray (KVOAdditions)

- (void)addObserver:(NSObject *)observer
 toObjectsAtIndexes:(NSIndexSet *)indexes
         forKeyPath:(NSString *)keyPath
            options:(NSKeyValueObservingOptions)options
           selector:(SEL)aSelector;

@end

These allow you to observe a keyPath on an object and receive a message to the designated selector when the change occurs. Furthermore, the selector can have four different signatures that allow for different levels of information to be received. These selector formats are as follows:

/* Receive no information about the change */
- (void)valueDidChange;

/* Receive the raw change dictionary */
- (void)valueDidChange:(NSDictionary *)change;

/* If the observing options include either
 * NSKeyValueObservingOptionOld or NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew,
 * receive the old and new values */
- (void)valueDidChange:(id)old newValue:(id)new;

/* If the observing options include either
 * NSKeyValueObservingOptionOld or NSKeyValueObservingOptionNew,
 * receive the old and new values */
- (void)valueDidChange:(id)old newValue:(id)new prior:(BOOL)isPrior;

Feedback on these APIs, including suggestions and criticism (and even bugs!) are of course welcome.

I came up with an implementation which, according to my tests, is 3-5X faster than the non-optimized version. The optimized version below composites a single color starting at a destination pixel buffer for a specified run of pixels. It uses source over compositing on a RGBA, 8bpc, integer pixel buffer.

The optimized version is presented below:

static __m128i zero =
        _mm_set_epi32(0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0);
static __m128i one =
        _mm_set_epi32(0x00010001U, 0x00010001U, 0x00010001U, 0x00010001U);
static __m128i mask1 =
        _mm_set_epi32(0x00FF00FFU, 0x00FF00FFU, 0x00FF00FFU, 0x00FF00FFU);
static __m128i mask2 =
        _mm_set_epi32(0xFF00FF00U, 0xFF00FF00U, 0xFF00FF00U, 0xFF00FF00U);

if (_comp[3] == 255) {
    /* We're compositing a fully opaque pixel, just copy onto the destination */

    unsigned int *dst = (unsigned int *)_dst;

    /* The pixel offset from dst */
    size_t i = 0;

    /* The number of quad-pixels processed */
    size_t j = 0;

    /* Leading 0..3 pixels */
    while (((intptr_t)(dst+i) & (intptr_t)0xF) != 0) {
        *(dst + i) = *(unsigned int *)_comp;
        i++; run--;
    }

    /* Start at the pixel i */
    __m128i *mdst = (__m128i *)(dst + i);

    /* Set 4 pixel chunks */
    for (j = 0; j < (run>>2); j++) {
        _mm_prefetch(mdst+1, _MM_HINT_T0);
        _mm_store_si128(mdst++, _src);
    }

    /* If we couldn't get all of the run in 4 pixel chunks, get them now */
    for (size_t k = 0; k < run % 4; k++) {
        *(dst + i + k + (j<<2)) = *(unsigned int *)_comp;
    }
} else {
    /* We need full composition as this pixel has transparency */

    unsigned char *dst = (unsigned char *)_dst;

    /* char offset from dst */
    size_t i = 0;

    /* Quad-pixels processed */
    size_t j = 0;

    /* get the non-aligned starting 0..3 pixels */
    while (((intptr_t)(dst+i) & (intptr_t)0xF) != 0) {
        dst[0+i] = _comp[0] + dst[0+i] -
            (dst[0+i] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[0+i] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //R
        dst[1+i] = _comp[1] + dst[1+i] -
            (dst[1+i] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[1+i] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //G
        dst[2+i] = _comp[2] + dst[2+i] -
            (dst[2+i] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[2+i] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //B
        dst[3+i] = _comp[3] + dst[3+i] -
            (dst[3+i] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[3+i] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //A
        i += 4; run--;
    }

    /* Load in 2 pixels */
    __m128i *mdst = (__m128i *)(dst+i);
    __m128i d, d1, d2, res;
    for (j; j < (run>>2); j++) {
        /* Load 4 pixels */
        d = _mm_load_si128(mdst);

        /* Take chars 0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14 and composite */
        d1 = _mm_and_si128(d, mask1);
        d1 = _mm_add_epi16(_mm_subs_epi16(d1, _mm_add_epi16(
                    _mm_srli_epi16(_mm_mullo_epi16(d1, _c3), 8),
                    _mm_and_si128(_mm_cmpgt_epi16(d1, zero), one))), _ce);

        /* Take chars 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15 and composite */
        d2 = _mm_srli_epi16(_mm_and_si128(d, mask2), 8);

        /* prefetch the next 4 pixels */
        _mm_prefetch(mdst+1, _MM_HINT_T0);

        d2 = _mm_add_epi16(_mm_subs_epi16(d2, _mm_add_epi16(
                    _mm_srli_epi16(_mm_mullo_epi16(d2, _c3), 8),
                    _mm_and_si128(_mm_cmpgt_epi16(d2, zero), one))), _co);

        /* shift odd chars (d2) to high 8 bits and or with d1 */
        res = _mm_or_si128(d1, _mm_slli_epi16(d2, 8));

        /* Store 4 pixels */
        _mm_store_si128(mdst, res);

        mdst++;
    }

    // Get the trailing 0..3 pixels
    dst += i + (j< <4);
    for (size_t k = 0; k < (run % 4) * 4; k+=4) {
        dst[0+k] = _comp[0] + dst[0+k] -
            (dst[0+k] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[0+k] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //R
        dst[1+k] = _comp[1] + dst[1+k] -
            (dst[1+k] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[1+k] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //G
        dst[2+k] = _comp[2] + dst[2+k] -
            (dst[2+k] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[2+k] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //B
        dst[3+k] = _comp[3] + dst[3+k] -
            (dst[3+k] > 0? ((((unsigned short)dst[3+k] * _comp[3]) >> 8) + 1) : 0); //A
    }
}

_c3 is a vector composed solely of the alpha value of the color.
_ce is a vector composed of pairs of the red and blue components.
_co is a vector composed of pairs of the green and alpha components.
_src is the start address of the pixel buffer.

_c3, _ce, _co, and _src are set from the following function:

unsigned short r = _comp[0], g = _comp[1], b = _comp[2], a = _comp[3];
_c3 = _mm_setr_epi16(a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a);
_ce = _mm_setr_epi16(r, b, r, b, r, b, r, b);
_co = _mm_setr_epi16(g, a, g, a, g, a, g, a);

_src = _mm_set_epi32(*(int*)_comp, *(int*)_comp, *(int*)_comp, *(int*)_comp);

This, of course, is slow, especially for several transparency layers.

To help speed things up, clip the context to the bounds of any drawing in a transparency layer before beginning the transparency layer, such as below:

CGRect artRect = CGRectMake(50,50,100,50);
CGContextClipToRect(context, artRect);

CGContextBeginTransparencyLayer(context, NULL);

/* Draw layer content here */

CGContextEndTransparencyLayer(context);

I’ve created a demonstration program to illustrate the effects of clipped vs. unclipped transparency layers. To see the effects, open Quartz Debug (/Developer/Applications/Graphics Tools/Quartz Debug.app) and turn on “Flash screen updates.” Then, open the Transparency Layer program. There are two windows, the left showing the drawing without clipping and the right clipping to the approximate art bounds. The views are redrawing four times per second. Notice that the unclipped view redraws its entire content while the clipped view redraws only the actual art.

Finally, using -[NSView setNeedsDisplayInRect:] clips the drawing to the specified rect.

However, these API’s have an interesting peculiarity: when the documentation says “a CFArray of CGWindowID values” they mean a CFArray of uint32s, not CFNumbers as programmers familiar with CoreFoundation might expect. This holds true for the CGWindowListCreate(), CGWindowListCreateDescriptionFromArray(), and CGWindowListCreateImageFromArray functions, but the two functions that return window information (CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo() and CGWindowListCreateDescriptionFromArray()) wrap all numeric values in CFNumbers.

To create such an array, you’ll have to create it with CFArrayCreateMutable(), such as the following:

/* Make an array with no callbacks */
CFMutableArrayRef windows = CFArrayCreateMutable(kCFAllocatorDefault, 0, NULL);

/* myWindow is a NSWindow */
CFArrayAppendValue(windows, (void *)[myWindow windowNumber]);

To get the CGWindowID of a NSWindow, you’ll want to use -[NSWindow windowNumber]. Even though the documentation specifies that this isn’t the same number as assigned by the WindowServer, it turns out that it works fine with the CGWindow* APIs.

I’ve done a bit of digging and was able to implement all but one of these features in a menu extra. Download it and the source here.

And yes, the menu icon doesn’t scale nicely :)

The full list is some 57 items, and is available below. Besides the expected cache items, the list includes some items I thought interesting:

/home
*/Library/Logs
/Users/Guest
/Library/Safari/Icons.db
/.Spotlight-V100

Of these, the only one I find odd is the exclusion of logs. If your system goes haywire such that you restore it completely from a backup, it might be nice to see what went wrong.

[Update] Fixed the path to the StdExclusions.plist file.

Here’s the full list of the excluded paths:

Contents Excluded

The contents of these paths are excluded, but the directories themselves are preserved as they are required for a successful restore.

/Volumes
/Network
/automount
/.vol
/tmp
/cores
/private/tmp
/private/Network
/private/tftpboot
/private/var/automount
/private/var/log
/private/var/folders
/private/var/log/apache2
/private/var/log/cups
/private/var/log/fax
/private/var/log/ppp
/private/var/log/sa
/private/var/log/samba
/private/var/log/uucp
/private/var/run
/private/var/spool
/private/var/tmp
/private/var/vm
/private/var/db/dhcpclient
/private/var/db/fseventsd
/Library/Caches
/Library/Logs
/System/Library/Caches
/System/Library/Extensions/Caches

Paths Excluded

These directories and their contents are excluded completely.

/.Spotlight-V100
/.Trashes
/.fseventsd
/.hotfiles.btree
/Backups.backupdb
/Desktop DB
/Desktop DF
/Network/Servers
/Previous Systems
/Users/Shared/SC Info
/Users/Guest
/dev
/home
/net
/private/var/db/Spotlight
/private/var/db/Spotlight-V100

User Paths Excluded

These directories are and their contents are excluded per-user. The path is relative to the user’s home folder.

Library/Application Support/MobileSync
Library/Application Support/SyncServices
Library/Caches
Library/Logs
Library/Mail/Envelope Index
Library/Mail/AvailableFeeds
Library/Mirrors
Library/PubSub/Database
Library/PubSub/Downloads
Library/PubSub/Feeds
Library/Safari/Icons.db
Library/Safari/HistoryIndex.sk

[Update] Zon Wakest was nice enough to upload additional plugins. Thanks Zon! These are now added into my archive and the combined list is below. If you got the old archive, download just the additional plugins.

[Update2] Quicksilver now links to 3814 instead of 3813.

The plugins included are as follows:

Adium Module.qsplugin
Airport Module.qsplugin
Apple Address Book Module.qsplugin
Apple Mail Module.qsplugin
Automator Module.qsplugin
Bezel Interface.qsplugin
Calculator Module.qsplugin
Camino Module.qsplugin
Chat Support.qsplugin
Clipboard Module.qsplugin
Command Line Tool.qsplugin
Cube Interface.qsplugin
Desktop Picture Action.qsplugin
Developer Module.qsplugin
Deviant Module.qsplugin
Dictionary Module.qsplugin
Download Actions.qsplugin
Email Support.qsplugin
Extra Scripts.qsplugin
File Attribute Actions.qsplugin
File Compression Module.qsplugin
File Tagging Module.qsplugin
Finder Module.qsplugin
Firefox Module.qsplugin
Flashlight Interface.qsplugin
Flickr Upload.qsplugin
Gmail Module.qsplugin
Google Calendar Module.qsplugin
Growl Module.qsplugin
HotKey Triggers.qsplugin
Keychain Module.qsplugin
Menu Interface.qsplugin
Mini Interface.qsplugin
Music Support.qsplugin
NotificationHub.qsplugin
Primer Interface.qsplugin
Process Manipulation Actions.qsplugin
QSFumoInterface.qsplugin
SSH Plugin.qsplugin
Safari Module.qsplugin
SafariStand Queries.qsplugin
Services Menu Module.qsplugin
Shelf Module.qsplugin
Slideshow Action.qsplugin
Social Bookmarks.qsplugin
Spotlight Module.qsplugin
Tatau Module.qsplugin
Terminal Module.qsplugin
Text Manipulation Actions.qsplugin
TextMate Ranker.qsplugin
Todoist Module.qsplugin
Transmit Module.qsplugin
UI Access.qsplugin
Web Search Module.qsplugin
Window Interface.qsplugin
iCal Module.qsplugin
iChat Module.qsplugin
iPhoto Module.qsplugin
iTunes Module.qsplugin


If you have other plugins that I don’t, upload them somewhere and post the link in the comments and I’ll add them to my collection.

static uint64_t count = 7;
static NSString *suffixes[7] =
    { @"B", @"KiB", @"MiB", @"GiB", @"TiB", @"PiB", @"EiB"};
uint64_t i, c;
for (i = 1024, c = 0; i < (count << 60); i <<= 10, c++) {
    if (bytes < i)
        return [NSString stringWithFormat:  @"%0.2f%@",
                                            (double)bytes / (double)(i >> 10),
                                            suffixes[c]];
}
return @"Big";

Now, optimizing away divisions (except for the final conversion to string) really doesn’t save any time at all. The creation and subsequent autorelease of a NSString will take far longer than the division operations, even for large byte counts. Thus, I believe this code sample qualifies as pointless optimization, although it was entertaining to write.

A CGColorRef is 48 bytes for a RGB color. A NSColor is 32 bytes for a RGB color, plus 48 bytes for a CGColorRef. If you can afford the memory hit, you’ll see quite a bit of speed improvement from caching colors.

Below is the output from a small test app (source available here) that tests various color setting methods: (Each test is 1,000,000 iterations.)

CGContextSetRGBFillColor: 4.368422 seconds
CGContextSetFillColorWithColor, static CGColorRef: 0.599552 seconds
-[NSColor setFillColor], static NSColor: 0.832328 seconds
-[NSColor setFillColor], dynamic NSColor: 5.847799 seconds