why:
the new implementation lost more then 25% execution time on the test
suite when compared to the original VM. so the handler call and the
surrounding statements have been wrapped in a big case statement similar
to the original VM implementation. on Linux/x64, the execution time of
the new VM2 seems to be on par with the old VM.
details:
on Linux/x64, computed goto works and is activated with the -d:release
flag. here the execution time of the new VM2 was tested short of 0.02%
better than the old VM. without the computed goto, it is short of
0.4% slower than the old VM.
why:
using function stubs made it possible to check the syntax of an op
handler source file by compiling this very file. this was previously
impossible due cyclic import/include mechanism.
details:
only oph_call.nim, oph_create.nim and subsequently op_handlers.nim
still need the -d:kludge:1 flag for syntax check compiling. this flag
also works with interpreter_dispatch.nim which imports op_handlers.nim.
why:
this allows for passing back information which can eventually be
used for reducing use of exceptions
caveat:
call/create currently needs to un-capture the call-by-reference
(wrapper) argument using the Computation reference inside
why:
the previous approach was replacing the function-lets in
opcode_impl.nim by the particulate table handlers. the test
functions will verify the the handler functions are sort of
correct but not the assignments in the fork tables.
the handler names of old and new for tables are checked here.
caveat:
verifying tables currently takes a while at compile time.
details:
the op handler table is accessible via op_handlers.nim module
op handler function implementations are found in the op_handlers/
sub-directory
kludge:
for development and pre-testing, any new module can be individually
compiled setting the kludge flag using -d:kludge:1. this causes some
proc/func replacements in turn allowing for omitting imports that would
otherwise cause a circular dependency. otherwise individual compilation
would fail.
in order to prove the overall correctness of the code, the
op_handlers.nim is imported by opcodes_impl.nim when compiling all,
nimbus or test.
Jordan Hrycaj