Dense Arena Interning: The Engine of Compiler Performance
a day ago
- #Memory Management
- #Compiler Optimization
- #Performance Engineering
- Compiler performance is improved by reducing repeated string and structure checks using Dense Arena Interning.
- Dense Arena Interning converts strings and structures into dense integers during lexing or type construction, enabling O(1) lookups and comparisons in later compiler phases.
- Arena allocators provide stable memory, allowing pointer-based comparisons and efficient memory management without reallocation.
- Dense IDs enable flat array symbol tables, improving cache locality and turning symbol resolution into O(1) array indexing.
- Interning canonicalizes complex types, allowing shallow pointer comparisons instead of deep structural checks, further speeding up type and symbol comparisons.