I get confused by this every time this comes up. Is multiple dispatch the same as function-overloading (e.g. in C++)?
``` julia> @code_warntype identity(5) MethodInstance for identity(::Int64) from identity(x) @ Base operators.jl:513 Arguments #self#::Core.Const(identity) x::Int64 Body::Int64 1 ─ nothing └── return x ```
This is type unstable and results in dynamic dispatch because we are not sure if the argument to identity will be an Int64 or a Float64.
``` julia> f(x) = identity(x ≥ 0 ? x : x + 0.0) f (generic function with 1 method)
julia> @code_warntype f(5) MethodInstance for f(::Int64) from f(x) @ Main REPL[4]:1 Arguments #self#::Core.Const(f) x::Int64 Locals @_3::Union{Float64, Int64} Body::Union{Float64, Int64} 1 ─ %1 = (x ≥ 0)::Bool └── goto #3 if not %1 2 ─ (@_3 = x) └── goto #4 3 ─ (@_3 = x + 0.0) 4 ┄ %6 = @_3::Union{Float64, Int64} │ %7 = Main.identity(%6)::Union{Float64, Int64} └── return %7 ```
This becomes an important part of optimizing Julia code. There is some tooling for this. Below, identity is a type stable function because we know that an Int64 argument results in a Int64 output. The macro code_warntype reveals the type analysis:
julia> @code_warntype identity(5)
MethodInstance for identity(::Int64)
from identity(x) in Base at operators.jl:526
Arguments
#self#::Core.Const(identity)
x::Int64
Body::Int64
1 ─ return x
julia> f(x) = identity(x ≥ 0 ? x : x + 0.0)
f (generic function with 1 method)
julia> @code_warntype f(5)
MethodInstance for f(::Int64)
from f(x) in Main at REPL[6]:1
Arguments
#self#::Core.Const(f)
x::Int64
Locals
@_3::Union{Float64, Int64}
Body::Union{Float64, Int64}
1 ─ %1 = (x ≥ 0)::Bool
└── goto #3 if not %1
2 ─ (@_3 = x)
└── goto #4
3 ─ (@_3 = x + 0.0)
4 ┄ %6 = @_3::Union{Float64, Int64}
│ %7 = Main.identity(%6)::Union{Float64, Int64}
└── return %7is not technically true, because that implies a massive slow-down. instead it's more accurate to say behavior-wise it's always equivalent to a dynamic dispatch, but because Julia's Just-Ahead-of-Time compilation, often you eliminate the dynamic dispatch during run time.
First sentence from the Wikipedia article on multiple dispatch:
"Multiple dispatch or multimethods is a feature of some programming languages in which a function or method can be dynamically dispatched based on the run-time (dynamic) type or, in the more general case, some other attribute of more than one of its arguments."
And later:
"Multiple dispatch should be distinguished from function overloading, in which static typing information, such as a term's declared or inferred type (or base type in a language with subtyping) is used to determine which of several possibilities will be used at a given call site, and that determination is made at compile or link time (or some other time before program execution starts) and is thereafter invariant for a given deployment or run of the program."