Rodrigo Mesquita pushed to branch wip/romes/step-out-11 at Glasgow Haskell Compiler / GHC

Commits:

• 335654e0
  by Rodrigo Mesquita at 2025-07-29T19:14:40+01:00

  bytecode: Don't PUSH_L 0; SLIDE 1 1
  
  While looking through bytecode I noticed a quite common unfortunate
  pattern:
  
  ...
  PUSH_L 0
  SLIDE 1 1
  
  We do this often by generically constructing a tail call from a function
  atom that may be somewhere arbitrary on the stack.
  However, for the special case that the function can be found directly on
  top of the stack, as part of the arguments, it's plain redundant to push
  then slide it.
  
  In this commit we add a small optimisation to the generation of
  tailcalls in bytecode. Simply: lookahead for the function in the stack.
  If it is the first thing on the stack and it is part of the arguments
  which would be dropped as we entered the tail call, then don't push then
  slide it.
  
  In a simple example (T26042b), this already produced a drastic
  improvement in generated code (left is old, right is with this patch):
  
  ```diff
  3c3
  < 2025-07-29 10:14:02.081277 UTC
  ---
  > 2025-07-29 10:50:36.560949 UTC
  160,161c160
  <                                            PUSH_L   0
  <                                            SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                                            SLIDE    1 1
  164,165d162
  <                                       PUSH_L   0
  <                                       SLIDE    1 1
  175,176c172
  <                             PUSH_L   0
  <                             SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                             SLIDE    1 1
  179,180d174
  <                        PUSH_L   0
  <                        SLIDE    1 1
  206,207d199
  <                        PUSH_L   0
  <                        SLIDE    1 1
  210,211d201
  <                   PUSH_L   0
  <                   SLIDE    1 1
  214,215d203
  <              PUSH_L   0
  <              SLIDE    1 1
  218,219d205
  <         PUSH_L   0
  <         SLIDE    1 1
  222,223d207
  <    PUSH_L   0
  <    SLIDE    1 1
  333,334c317
  <                                  PUSH_L   0
  <                                  SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                                  SLIDE    1 1
  337,338d319
  <                             PUSH_L   0
  <                             SLIDE    1 1
  367,368c348
  <                             PUSH_L   0
  <                             SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                             SLIDE    1 1
  371,372c351
  <                        PUSH_L   0
  <                        SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                        SLIDE    1 1
  375,376d353
  <                   PUSH_L   0
  <                   SLIDE    1 1
  379,380c356
  <              PUSH_L   0
  <              SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >              SLIDE    1 1
  383,384c359
  <         PUSH_L   0
  <         SLIDE    1 3
  ---
  >         SLIDE    1 2
  387,388c362
  <    PUSH_L   0
  <    SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >    SLIDE    1 1
  417,418d390
  <              PUSH_L   0
  <              SLIDE    1 1
  421,422c393
  <         PUSH_L   0
  <         SLIDE    1 4
  ---
  >         SLIDE    1 3
  442,443c413
  <              PUSH_L   0
  <              SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >              SLIDE    1 1
  446,447c416
  <         PUSH_L   0
  <         SLIDE    1 4
  ---
  >         SLIDE    1 3
  510,511c479
  <                        PUSH_L   0
  <                        SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                        SLIDE    1 1
  514,515d481
  <                   PUSH_L   0
  <                   SLIDE    1 1
  600,601c566
  <                                                 PUSH_L   0
  <                                                 SLIDE    1 2
  ---
  >                                                 SLIDE    1 1
  604,605d568
  <                                            PUSH_L   0
  <                                            SLIDE    1 1
  632,633d594
  <                                            PUSH_L   0
  <                                            SLIDE    1 1
  636,637d596
  <                                       PUSH_L   0
  <                                       SLIDE    1 1
  640,641d598
  <                                  PUSH_L   0
  <                                  SLIDE    1 1
  644,645d600
  <                             PUSH_L   0
  <                             SLIDE    1 1
  648,649d602
  <                        PUSH_L   0
  <                        SLIDE    1 1
  652,653d604
  <                   PUSH_L   0
  <                   SLIDE    1 1
  656,657d606
  <              PUSH_L   0
  <              SLIDE    1 1
  660,661d608
  <         PUSH_L   0
  <         SLIDE    1 1
  664,665d610
  <    PUSH_L   0
  <    SLIDE    1 1
  ```
  
  I also compiled lib:Cabal to bytecode and counted the number of bytecode
  lines with `find dist-newstyle -name "*.dump-BCOs" -exec wc {} +`:
  
      with unoptimized core:
      1190689 lines (before) - 1172891 lines (now)
      = 17798 less redundant instructions (-1.5%)
  
      with optimized core:
      1924818 lines (before) - 1864836 lines (now)
      = 59982 less redundant instructions (-3.1%)
  

1 changed file:

• compiler/GHC/StgToByteCode.hs

Changes:

   where

   do_pushes !d [] reps = do

-        assert (null reps) return ()

-        (push_fn, sz) <- pushAtom d p (StgVarArg fn)

         platform <- profilePlatform <$> getProfile

-        assert (sz == wordSize platform) return ()

-        let slide = mkSlideB platform (d - init_d + wordSize platform) (init_d - s)

-        return (push_fn `appOL` (slide `appOL` unitOL ENTER))

+        assert (null reps) return ()

+        case lookupBCEnv_maybe fn p of

+          Just d_v

+            | d - d_v == 0  -- shortcut; the first thing on the stack is what we want to enter,

+            , d_v <= init_d -- and it is between init_d and sequel (which would be dropped)

+            -> do

+              let slide = mkSlideB platform (d - init_d + wordSize platform)

+                                            (init_d - s - wordSize platform)

+              return (slide `appOL` unitOL ENTER)

+          _ -> do

+              (push_fn, sz) <- pushAtom d p (StgVarArg fn)

+              assert (sz == wordSize platform) return ()

+              let slide = mkSlideB platform (d - init_d + wordSize platform) (init_d - s)

+              return (push_fn `appOL` (slide `appOL` unitOL ENTER))

   do_pushes !d args reps = do

       let (push_apply, n, rest_of_reps) = findPushSeq reps

           (these_args, rest_of_args) = splitAt n args