Excise the stupid fucking `set-*` opcodes
The book uses the horribly-confusingly-named `set-*` operations for handling
subterms in query mode. The author does this because he claims this is both
easier to understand and more performant. In reality it is neither of these
things.
If you just name the subterm-handling opcodes something not completely stupid,
like `handle-subterm-*` instead of `unify-*` it becomes obvious what they do.
Also, despite the fact that `put-*` instructions now need to set the WAM's
`mode`, we still get about a 10% speedup here, likely from some combination of
reducing the VM loop code size and simplifying the compilation process. So it's
not even more performant.
TL;DR: Just say "No" to `set-*`.
author |
Steve Losh <steve@stevelosh.com> |
date |
Sun, 10 Jul 2016 14:21:18 +0000 |
parents |
e244881864f7 |
children |
(none) |
(in-package #:bones.wam)
;;; The cells of the WAM are essentially N bit bytes, with different chunks of
;;; bits representing different things. All cells have type tag bits in the
;;; low-order bits and their value in the higher-order bits:
;;;
;;; value type
;;; vvvvvvvvvvvvvTTT
;;;
;;; The contents of the value depend on the type of cell.
;;;
;;; NULL cells always have a value of zero.
;;;
;;; STRUCTURE cell values are an index into the store, describing where the
;;; structure starts.
;;;
;;; REFERENCE cell values are an index into the store, pointing at whatever the
;;; value is bound to. Unbound variables contain their own store index as
;;; a value.
;;;
;;; FUNCTOR cell values are an index into the WAM's functor array where the
;;; `(symbol . arity)` cons lives.
;;;
;;; CONSTANT cells are the same as functor cells, except that they always refer
;;; to functors with an arity of zero.
;;;
(declaim (inline cell-type
cell-value))
(defun* cell-type ((cell cell))
(:returns cell-tag)
(logand cell +cell-tag-bitmask+))
(defun* cell-value ((cell cell))
(:returns cell-value)
(ash cell (- +cell-tag-width+)))
(defun* cell-type-name ((cell cell))
(:returns string)
(eswitch ((cell-type cell) :test #'=)
(+tag-null+ "NULL")
(+tag-structure+ "STRUCTURE")
(+tag-reference+ "REFERENCE")
(+tag-functor+ "FUNCTOR")
(+tag-constant+ "CONSTANT")
(+tag-list+ "LIST")))
(defun* cell-type-short-name ((cell cell))
(:returns string)
(eswitch ((cell-type cell) :test #'=)
(+tag-null+ "NUL")
(+tag-structure+ "STR")
(+tag-reference+ "REF")
(+tag-functor+ "FUN")
(+tag-constant+ "CON")
(+tag-list+ "LST")))
(defun* cell-aesthetic ((cell cell))
"Return a compact, human-friendly string representation of the cell."
(format nil "[~A ~X]"
(cell-type-short-name cell)
(cell-value cell)))
(declaim (inline cell-null-p
cell-reference-p
cell-functor-p
cell-structure-p
cell-constant-p
cell-list-p))
(defun* cell-null-p ((cell cell))
(:returns boolean)
(= (cell-type cell) +tag-null+))
(defun* cell-reference-p ((cell cell))
(:returns boolean)
(= (cell-type cell) +tag-reference+))
(defun* cell-functor-p ((cell cell))
(:returns boolean)
(= (cell-type cell) +tag-functor+))
(defun* cell-structure-p ((cell cell))
(:returns boolean)
(= (cell-type cell) +tag-structure+))
(defun* cell-constant-p ((cell cell))
(:returns boolean)
(= (cell-type cell) +tag-constant+))
(defun* cell-list-p ((cell cell))
(:returns boolean)
(= (cell-type cell) +tag-list+))
(declaim (inline make-cell
make-cell-null
make-cell-structure
make-cell-reference
make-cell-functor
make-cell-constant
make-cell-list))
(defun* make-cell ((tag cell-tag) (value cell-value))
(:returns cell)
(values
(logior (ash value +cell-tag-width+)
tag)))
(defun* make-cell-null ()
(:returns cell)
(make-cell +tag-null+ 0))
(defun* make-cell-structure ((value cell-value))
(:returns cell)
(make-cell +tag-structure+ value))
(defun* make-cell-reference ((value cell-value))
(:returns cell)
(make-cell +tag-reference+ value))
(defun* make-cell-functor ((functor-index functor-index))
(:returns cell)
(make-cell +tag-functor+ functor-index))
(defun* make-cell-constant ((functor-index functor-index))
(:returns cell)
(make-cell +tag-constant+ functor-index))
(defun* make-cell-list ((value cell-value))
(:returns cell)
(make-cell +tag-list+ value))