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py/vm.c: Avoid heap-allocating slices for built-ins. #12518

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merged 1 commit into from
Jul 15, 2025

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@jimmo jimmo commented Sep 26, 2023

This is an alternative to #10160 and implements a different variation on @damz's idea. It's still worth considering making the compiler do this (via a new SLICE_AND_SUBSCR opcode), but this way also has the benefit of handing the is-instance-type check in a simple way.

Unlike #10160 though it only helps for bytecode and not the native emitter.


Fast path optimisation for when a BUILD_SLICE is immediately followed by a LOAD/STORE_SUBSCR for a native type to avoid needing to allocate the slice on the heap.

In some cases (e.g. a[1:3] = x) this can result in no allocations at all.

We can't do this for instance types because the get/set/delattr implementation may keep a reference to the slice.

This work was funded through GitHub Sponsors.

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github-actions bot commented Sep 26, 2023

Code size report:

   bare-arm:    +0 +0.000% 
minimal x86:    +0 +0.000% 
   unix x64:  +240 +0.028% standard
      stm32:  +120 +0.031% PYBV10
     mimxrt:  +128 +0.034% TEENSY40
        rp2:  +136 +0.015% RPI_PICO_W
       samd:  +128 +0.048% ADAFRUIT_ITSYBITSY_M4_EXPRESS
  qemu rv32:  +142 +0.031% VIRT_RV32

@dpgeorge dpgeorge added the py-core Relates to py/ directory in source label Sep 27, 2023
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Not sure why, but this is failing on unix CI.

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jimmo commented Sep 27, 2023

Not sure why, but this is failing on unix CI.

It's failing the "doesn't heap allocate" when using emit-native. Need to add an exclusion for that test when using emit-native.

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jimmo commented Sep 27, 2023

It's failing the "doesn't heap allocate" when using emit-native. Need to add an exclusion for that test when using emit-native.

Done.

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codecov bot commented Sep 27, 2023

Codecov Report

All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests ✅

Project coverage is 98.44%. Comparing base (aa2362d) to head (5e9189d).
Report is 1 commits behind head on master.

Additional details and impacted files
@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##           master   #12518   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   98.44%   98.44%           
=======================================
  Files         171      171           
  Lines       22192    22204   +12     
=======================================
+ Hits        21847    21859   +12     
  Misses        345      345           

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dpgeorge commented Jul 2, 2025

I've rebased this on latest master, to see how it goes after ~2 years.

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dpgeorge commented Jul 4, 2025

This is looking good now. It enables basic slices to work without allocating on the heap, and only increases C stack usage when that feature is used. I think it should be merged.

This commit adds a fast-path optimisation for when a BUILD_SLICE is
immediately followed by a LOAD/STORE_SUBSCR for a native type, to avoid
needing to allocate the slice on the heap.

In some cases (e.g. `a[1:3] = x`) this can result in no allocations at all.

We can't do this for instance types because the get/set/delattr
implementation may keep a reference to the slice.

Adds more tests to the basic slice tests to ensure that a stack-allocated
slice never makes it to Python, and also a heapalloc test that verifies
(when using bytecode) that assigning to a slice is no-alloc.

This work was funded through GitHub Sponsors.

Signed-off-by: Jim Mussared <jim.mussared@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Damien George <damien@micropython.org>
@dpgeorge dpgeorge merged commit 5e9189d into micropython:master Jul 15, 2025
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3 participants