Priori

C++ Fast dynamic_cast<> Alternative

Overview

Priori uses CMake to provide cross-platform builds. It does require a modern compiler (Visual C++ 2012 or GCC 4.7+) due to its use of C++11.

Priori is a special base class which facilitates a very fast dynamic_cast<> alternative when dynamic_cast<> itself has shown to be a bottleneck. Specifically in the case where dynamic_cast<> from a base class to a derived class is impacting performance, priori_cast<> costs 85% less than dynamic_cast<>. When casting from a derived type to a base class, priori_cast<> costs about 4x more than dynamic_cast, so the performance benefit should be weighed prior to utilization.

(Given the later case of casting from a derived type to a base type, I would suggest using static_cast<> anyway.)