Rewriting the implementation of #initSelectorTable to:

SelectorTable := WeakSet withAll: (CompiledMethod allInstances collect: [:m | m 
selector] as: IdentitySet).

Makes it 20ms faster, so it looks like there is some overhead when using 
WeakSet compared to first use a normal set to remove duplicates.

Another possibility could be to store the selectors in an IdentityDictionary as 
#selector->count which keep track of how many users of a selector there is 
itself, instead of using a WeakArray.

Best regards,
Henrik

From: Pharo-dev [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nicolai 
Hess
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2016 7:52 PM
To: Pharo Development List <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Pharo-dev] Cycles lost on startup



2016-09-05 18:37 GMT+02:00 Eliot Miranda 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>:
Hi All,

    we are simulating a full block Pharo image derived from Pharo 6.  On 
startup we see a very sad loss of cycles due to a very slow rebuild of the 
selector table in Symbol class.  Why is this done at each startup?  Here is the 
stack:

  16r107154 M ByteString class(ProtoObject)>identityHash 16r786AE8: a(n) 
ByteString class
  16r10716C M ByteString class(Object)>hash 16r786AE8: a(n) ByteString class
  16r10718C M ByteSymbol(String)>hash 16rE6A5C8: a(n) ByteSymbol
  16r1071B0 M WeakSet>scanForEmptySlotFor: 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r1071DC M WeakSet>noCheckNoGrowFillFrom: 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r1071FC M WeakSet>growTo: 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r10721C M WeakSet>grow 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r107234 M WeakSet(HashedCollection)>fullCheck 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r10724C M WeakSet(HashedCollection)>atNewIndex:put: 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r107274 M WeakSet>add: 16r26B968: a(n) WeakSet
  16r107294 M [] in Symbol class>(nil) 16r1D319A8: a(n) Symbol class
  16r1072B8 M Array(SequenceableCollection)>do: 16r3C17370: a(n) Array
  16r1072E8 I CompiledMethod class(Behavior)>allInstancesDo: 16r164E260: a(n) 
CompiledMethod class
  16r10730C I Symbol class>initSelectorTable 16r1D319A8: a(n) Symbol class
  16r10732C I Symbol class>selectorTable 16r1D319A8: a(n) Symbol class
  16r107350 I Symbol class>internSelector: 16r1D319A8: a(n) Symbol class
  16r10737C I CompiledMethod>selector: 16r26AB58: a(n) CompiledMethod
  16r1073A4 I IRMethod>generate: 16r25A030: a(n) IRMethod
  16r1073CC I FFICalloutMethodBuilder>generateMethodFromSpec: 16r255580: a(n) 
FFICalloutMethodBuilder
  16r1073F0 I FFICalloutMethodBuilder>generate 16r255580: a(n) 
FFICalloutMethodBuilder
  16r1030C8 I FFICalloutMethodBuilder>build: 16r255580: a(n) 
FFICalloutMethodBuilder
  16r1030F4 I FFICalloutAPI>function:module: 16r255568: a(n) FFICalloutAPI
  16r10311C I UnixEnvironment(Object)>ffiCall:module: 16r3816180: a(n) 
UnixEnvironment
  16r103144 I UnixEnvironment(OSEnvironment)>getEnv: 16r3816180: a(n) 
UnixEnvironment
  16r103168 I UnixEnvironment(OSEnvironment)>at:ifAbsent: 16r3816180: a(n) 
UnixEnvironment
  16r10318C M [] in MacOSResolver>(nil) 16r241170: a(n) MacOSResolver
  16r1031A4 M FullBlockClosure(BlockClosure)>on:do: 16r2553F0: a(n) 
FullBlockClosure
  16r1031D0 I MacOSResolver(PlatformResolver)>directoryFromEnvVariableNamed:or: 
16r241170: a(n) MacOSResolver
  16r1031F8 I MacOSResolver(PlatformResolver)>directoryFromEnvVariableNamed: 
16r241170: a(n) MacOSResolver
  16r10321C I MacOSResolver>home 16r241170: a(n) MacOSResolver
  16r10323C I MacOSResolver>userLibrary 16r241170: a(n) MacOSResolver
  16r103254 M MacOSResolver>userApplicationSupport 16r241170: a(n) MacOSResolver
  16r10326C M MacOSResolver(FileSystemResolver)>resolve: 16r241170: a(n) 
MacOSResolver
  16r103288 M SystemResolver(FileSystemResolver)>unknownOrigin: 16r240D30: a(n) 
SystemResolver
  16r1032A4 M SystemResolver(FileSystemResolver)>resolve: 16r240D30: a(n) 
SystemResolver
  16r1032C4 M InteractiveResolver>unknownOrigin: 16r240CF0: a(n) 
InteractiveResolver
  16r1032E4 M [] in InteractiveResolver>(nil) 16r240CF0: a(n) 
InteractiveResolver
  16r103300 M IdentityDictionary(Dictionary)>at:ifAbsent: 16r240D00: a(n) 
IdentityDictionary
  16r103320 M InteractiveResolver>resolve: 16r240CF0: a(n) InteractiveResolver
  16r10333C M FileLocator>resolve 16r255258: a(n) FileLocator
  16r103354 M FileLocator(AbstractFileReference)>exists 16r255258: a(n) 
FileLocator
  16r10337C M [] in PharoFilesOpener>(nil) 16rE79FD8: a(n) PharoFilesOpener
  16r103398 M [] in PharoFilesOpener>(nil) 16rE79FD8: a(n) PharoFilesOpener
  16r1033B0 M FullBlockClosure(BlockClosure)>on:do: 16r255190: a(n) 
FullBlockClosure
  16r1033D0 M FullBlockClosure(BlockClosure)>ifError: 16r255190: a(n) 
FullBlockClosure
  16r1033EC M PharoFilesOpener>ignoreIfFail: 16rE79FD8: a(n) PharoFilesOpener
  16r102188 M [] in PharoFilesOpener>(nil) 16rE79FD8: a(n) PharoFilesOpener
  16r1021AC M Array(SequenceableCollection)>do: 16r2495E8: a(n) Array
  16r1021DC I PharoFilesOpener>openSources:forImage: 16rE79FD8: a(n) 
PharoFilesOpener
  16r102204 I PharoFilesOpener>openSources 16rE79FD8: a(n) PharoFilesOpener
  16r102228 I PharoFilesOpener>sourcesFileOrNil 16rE79FD8: a(n) PharoFilesOpener
  16r10224C I SourceFileArray>ensureOpen 16r8AA128: a(n) SourceFileArray
  16r10226C I SmalltalkImage>openSourceFiles 16rA58A28: a(n) SmalltalkImage
  16r10228C I SmalltalkImage class>startUp: 16rFDA6A8: a(n) SmalltalkImage class
  16r1022A8 M ClassSessionHandler>startup: 16r8B8978: a(n) ClassSessionHandler
  16r1022C8 M [] in WorkingSession>(nil) 16r1A45D0: a(n) WorkingSession
  16r1022EC M [] in WorkingSession>(nil) 16r1A45D0: a(n) WorkingSession
  16r102304 M FullBlockClosure(BlockClosure)>on:do: 16r245640: a(n) 
FullBlockClosure
  16r102328 M [] in WorkingSession>(nil) 16r1A45D0: a(n) WorkingSession
  16r10234C M Array(SequenceableCollection)>do: 16r1A47B8: a(n) Array
  16r102370 I WorkingSession>runList:do: 16r1A45D0: a(n) WorkingSession
  16r102398 I WorkingSession>runStartup: 16r1A45D0: a(n) WorkingSession
  16r1023BC I WorkingSession>start: 16r1A45D0: a(n) WorkingSession
  16r1023E8 I SessionManager>snapshot:andQuit: 16r17AA950: a(n) SessionManager

You'll see that Symbol class>selectorTable calls Symbol class> 
initSelectorTable which then calls CompiledMethod 
class(Behavior)>allInstancesDo: to enumerate over all methods.  This takes a 
significant amount of time, even on a fast machine.  For example, on a 2.%GHz 
machine this takes about 70 milliseconds.  That's a /lot/ of time to squander 
on startup.  And it will grow the larger the image is.

Hm, I didn't thought about that.


The selector table seems to be discarded on shut-down, which seems pointless.  
If one wants to recompute the table then before or after methods are added or 
removed seems like a better choice, not on every image startup.

I think I wanted to be on the save side and just discard on shutdown and 
rebuild on startup to be sure to have the correct set of selector symbols.


In around 2000 we were able to startup VisualWorks images in about 40 
milliseconds on the hardware available at the time.  I hope someone reconsiders 
this code and a avoids recomputing the selector table on each startup.

I will take a look and try to find a better way.

nicolai

_,,,^..^,,,_
best, Eliot

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