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Message:

Is cloning more efficient than new operator?

Posted by Matt Gerrans on January 19, 2002 at 10:24 PM

Of course cloning is less efficient than the new operator, since it involves creating an object, plus running all the code to copy member data, plus casting (since clone returns Object not whatever derived object you are cloning).

If the behavior you require is what you get from new, then there is no need to clone. You use clone() to copy an existing object, so you only need this if the existing object has pertinent state information. The most common example of the use of clone() would be when you have a method that takes a reference to a mutable object and wants to fool with it, but doesn't want to modify it (accidentally, or otherwise); in that case, you'd want a copy of the object to work on.

The other thing is, if you are using clone(), then you, or whoever wrote the object, needs to implement the (misspelled) interface correctly, whereas using new doesn't require any extra work. Relying on Object.clone() would be kind of silly.

Finally, it would be pretty easy to write a program that times itself in the task of creating several million objects using both methods. I'll put my money on new. Any takers?

• I second Jay January 20, 2002 at 2:13 PM (5)
  • don't really understand Chin Loong January 20, 2002 at 3:03 PM (4)
    • Cloning Matt Gerrans January 20, 2002 at 4:08 PM (3)
      • I didnt know it could be written that way! Jay January 21, 2002 at 3:18 PM (2)
        • Like A Dog With A Clone Matt Gerrans January 22, 2002 at 12:55 AM (1)
          • understood ^_^ (eom) Chin Loong January 22, 2002 at 10:26 AM (0)