compiler: improve hashmaps by avoiding dynamic allocas

By moving all allocas used in hashmap operations to the entry block, the
stack frame remains at a fixed size known at compile time. This avoids
stack overflows when doing map operations in loops and in general
improves code quality: the compiled size of testdata/map.go went from
3776 to 3632 in .text size.

compiler/llvm.go

@@ -22,6 +22,36 @@ func getUses(value llvm.Value) []llvm.Value {
 	return uses
 }
 
+// createEntryBlockAlloca creates a new alloca in the entry block, even though
+// the IR builder is located elsewhere. It assumes that the insert point is
+// after the last instruction in the current block. Also, it adds lifetime
+// information to the IR signalling that the alloca won't be used before this
+// point.
+//
+// This is useful for creating temporary allocas for intrinsics. Don't forget to
+// end the lifetime after you're done with it.
+func (c *Compiler) createEntryBlockAlloca(t llvm.Type, name string) (alloca, bitcast, size llvm.Value) {
+	currentBlock := c.builder.GetInsertBlock()
+	c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(currentBlock.Parent().EntryBasicBlock().FirstInstruction())
+	alloca = c.builder.CreateAlloca(t, name)
+	c.builder.SetInsertPointAtEnd(currentBlock)
+	bitcast = c.builder.CreateBitCast(alloca, c.i8ptrType, name+".bitcast")
+	size = llvm.ConstInt(c.ctx.Int64Type(), c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(t), false)
+	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeStartFunc(), []llvm.Value{size, bitcast}, "")
+	return
+}
+
+// getLifetimeStartFunc returns the llvm.lifetime.start intrinsic and creates it
+// first if it doesn't exist yet.
+func (c *Compiler) getLifetimeStartFunc() llvm.Value {
+	fn := c.mod.NamedFunction("llvm.lifetime.start.p0i8")
+	if fn.IsNil() {
+		fnType := llvm.FunctionType(c.ctx.VoidType(), []llvm.Type{c.ctx.Int64Type(), c.i8ptrType}, false)
+		fn = llvm.AddFunction(c.mod, "llvm.lifetime.start.p0i8", fnType)
+	}
+	return fn
+}
+
 // getLifetimeEndFunc returns the llvm.lifetime.end intrinsic and creates it
 // first if it doesn't exist yet.
 func (c *Compiler) getLifetimeEndFunc() llvm.Value {

compiler/map.go

@@ -11,8 +11,13 @@ import (
 
 func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Value, commaOk bool, pos token.Pos) (llvm.Value, error) {
 	llvmValueType := c.getLLVMType(valueType)
-	mapValueAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(llvmValueType, "hashmap.value")
-	mapValuePtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(mapValueAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "hashmap.valueptr")
+
+	// Allocate the memory for the resulting type. Do not zero this memory: it
+	// will be zeroed by the hashmap get implementation if the key is not
+	// present in the map.
+	mapValueAlloca, mapValuePtr, mapValueSize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(llvmValueType, "hashmap.value")
+
+	// Do the lookup. How it is done depends on the key type.
 	var commaOkValue llvm.Value
 	if t, ok := keyType.(*types.Basic); ok && t.Info()&types.IsString != 0 {
 		// key is a string
@@ -20,15 +25,24 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Valu
 		commaOkValue = c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapStringGet", params, "")
 	} else if hashmapIsBinaryKey(keyType) {
 		// key can be compared with runtime.memequal
-		keyAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
-		c.builder.CreateStore(key, keyAlloca)
-		keyPtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(keyAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "hashmap.keyptr")
-		params := []llvm.Value{m, keyPtr, mapValuePtr}
+		// Store the key in an alloca, in the entry block to avoid dynamic stack
+		// growth.
+		mapKeyAlloca, mapKeyPtr, mapKeySize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
+		c.builder.CreateStore(key, mapKeyAlloca)
+		// Fetch the value from the hashmap.
+		params := []llvm.Value{m, mapKeyPtr, mapValuePtr}
 		commaOkValue = c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapBinaryGet", params, "")
+		c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{mapKeySize, mapKeyPtr}, "")
 	} else {
+		// Not trivially comparable using memcmp.
 		return llvm.Value{}, c.makeError(pos, "only strings, bools, ints or structs of bools/ints are supported as map keys, but got: "+keyType.String())
 	}
+
+	// Load the resulting value from the hashmap. The value is set to the zero
+	// value if the key doesn't exist in the hashmap.
 	mapValue := c.builder.CreateLoad(mapValueAlloca, "")
+	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{mapValueSize, mapValuePtr}, "")
+
 	if commaOk {
 		tuple := llvm.Undef(c.ctx.StructType([]llvm.Type{llvmValueType, c.ctx.Int1Type()}, false))
 		tuple = c.builder.CreateInsertValue(tuple, mapValue, 0, "")
@@ -40,9 +54,8 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Valu
 }
 
 func (c *Compiler) emitMapUpdate(keyType types.Type, m, key, value llvm.Value, pos token.Pos) {
-	valueAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(value.Type(), "hashmap.value")
+	valueAlloca, valuePtr, valueSize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(value.Type(), "hashmap.value")
 	c.builder.CreateStore(value, valueAlloca)
-	valuePtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(valueAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "hashmap.valueptr")
 	keyType = keyType.Underlying()
 	if t, ok := keyType.(*types.Basic); ok && t.Info()&types.IsString != 0 {
 		// key is a string
@@ -50,14 +63,15 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapUpdate(keyType types.Type, m, key, value llvm.Value, p
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapStringSet", params, "")
 	} else if hashmapIsBinaryKey(keyType) {
 		// key can be compared with runtime.memequal
-		keyAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
+		keyAlloca, keyPtr, keySize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(key, keyAlloca)
-		keyPtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(keyAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "hashmap.keyptr")
 		params := []llvm.Value{m, keyPtr, valuePtr}
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapBinarySet", params, "")
+		c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{keySize, keyPtr}, "")
 	} else {
 		c.addError(pos, "only strings, bools, ints or structs of bools/ints are supported as map keys, but got: "+keyType.String())
 	}
+	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{valueSize, valuePtr}, "")
 }
 
 func (c *Compiler) emitMapDelete(keyType types.Type, m, key llvm.Value, pos token.Pos) error {
@@ -68,11 +82,11 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapDelete(keyType types.Type, m, key llvm.Value, pos toke
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapStringDelete", params, "")
 		return nil
 	} else if hashmapIsBinaryKey(keyType) {
-		keyAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
+		keyAlloca, keyPtr, keySize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(key, keyAlloca)
-		keyPtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(keyAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "hashmap.keyptr")
 		params := []llvm.Value{m, keyPtr}
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapBinaryDelete", params, "")
+		c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{keySize, keyPtr}, "")
 		return nil
 	} else {
 		return c.makeError(pos, "only strings, bools, ints or structs of bools/ints are supported as map keys, but got: "+keyType.String())