• Eric Myhre's avatar
    Promote NodeAssembler/NodeStyle solution to core. · 4eb8c55c
    Eric Myhre authored
    This is a *lot* of changes.  It's the most significant change to date,
    both in semantics and in character count, since the start of this repo.
    It changes the most central interfaces, and significantly so.
    
    But all tests pass.  And all benchmarks are *improved*.
    
    The Node interface (the reading side) is mostly unchanged -- a lot of
    consuming code will still compile and work just fine without changes --
    but any other Node implementations out there might need some updating.
    
    The NodeBuilder interface (the writing side) is *extremely* changed --
    any implementations out there will *definitely* need change -- and most
    consumers will too.  It's unavoidable with a semantic fix this big.
    The performance improvements should make it worth your while, though.
    
    If you want more background on how and why we got here, you've got
    quite a few commits on the "research-admissions" branches to catch up
    on reading.  But here's a rundown of the changes:
    
    (Get a glass of water or something calming before reading...)
    
    === NodeAssembler introduced! ===
    
    NodeAssembler is a new interface that describes most of the work of
    creating and filling data into a new Node.
    
    The NodeBuilder interface is still around, but changed in role.
    A NodeBuilder is now always also a NodeAssembler; additionally, it can
    return the final Node to you.
    
    A NodeAssembler, unlike NodeBuilder, can **not** return a Node to you.
    In this way, a NodeBuilder represents the ability to allocate memory.
    A NodeAssembler often *does not*: it's just *filling in* memory.
    
    This design overall is much more friendly to efficient operations:
    in this model, we do allocations in bulk when a NodeBuilder is used,
    and then NodeAssemblers are used thereafter to fill it in -- this
    mental model is very friendly to amortizing memory allocations.
    Previously, the NodeBuilder interface made such a pattern of use
    somewhere between difficult and outright impossible, because it was
    modeled around building small values, then creating a bigger value and
    inserting the smaller ones into it.
    
    This is the key change that cascaded into producing the entire other
    set of changes which land in this commit.
    
    The NodeBuilder methods for getting "child builders" are also gone
    as a result of these changes.  The result feels a lot smoother.
    (You can still ask for the NodeStyle for children of a recursive kind!
    But you'll find that even though it's possible, it's rarely necessary.)
    
    We see some direct improvements from this interface change already.
    We'll see even more in the future: creating values when using codegen'd
    implementations of Node was hugely encumbered by the old NodeBuilder
    model; NodeAssembler *radically* raises the possible ceiling for
    performance of codegen Node implementations.
    
    === NodeStyle introduced ===
    
    NodeStyle is a new interface type that is used to carry information
    about concrete node implementations.
    
    You can always use a NodeStyle to get a NodeBuilder.
    
    NodeStyle may also have additional features on it which can be detected
    by interface checks.  (This isn't heavily used yet, but we imagine it
    might become handy in the future.)
    
    NodeStyle replaces NodeBuilder in many function arguments,
    because often what we wanted was to communicate a selection of Node
    implementation strategy, but not actually the start of construction;
    the NodeStyle interface now allows us to *say that*.
    
    NodeStyle typically cost nothing to pass around, whereas a NodeBuilder
    generally requires an allocation to create and initialize.  This means
    we can use NodeStyle more freely in many contexts.
    
    === node package paths changed ===
    
    Node implementations are now in packages under the "node/*" directory.
    Previously, they were under an "impl/*" directory.
    
    The "impl/free" package is replaced by the the "node/basic" package!
    The package name was "ipldfree"; it's now "basicnode".
    
    === basicnode is an improved runtime/anycontent Node implementation ===
    
    The `basicnode` package works much the same as the `ipldfree` package
    used to -- you can store any kind of data in it, and it just does as
    best it can to represent and handle that, and it works without any
    kind of type info nor needs of compile-time special support, etc --
    while being just quietly *better at it*.
    
    The resident memory size of most things has gone down.
    (We're not using "fat unions" in the implementation anymore.)
    
    The cost of iterating maps has gone down *dramatically*.
    Iteration previously suffered from O(n) allocations due to
    expensive `runtime.conv*` calls when yielding keys.
    Iteration is now O(1) (!!) because we redesigned `basicnode` internals
    to use "internal pointers" more heavily, and this avoids the costs
    from `runtime.conv*`.
    (We could've done this separately from the NodeAssembler change,
    admittedly.  But both are the product of research into how impactful
    clever use of "internal pointers" can be, and lots of code in the
    neighborhood had to be rewritten for the NodeAssembler interface,
    so, these diffs arrive as one.)
    
    Error messages are more informative.
    
    Many small operations should get a few nanoseconds faster.
    (The implementation uses more concrete types and fewer switch
    statements.  The difference probably isn't the most noticeable part of
    all these changes, but it's there.)
    
    --- basicnode constructor helpers do all return pointers ---
    
    All the "New*" helper functions in the basicnode package return
    interfaces which are filled by a pointer now.
    This is change from how they worked previously when they were first
    implemented in the "rsrch" package.
    
    The experience of integrating basicnode with the tests in the traversal
    package made it clear that having a mixture of pointer and non-pointer
    values flying around will be irritating in practice.  And since it is
    the case that when returning values from inside a larger structure,
    we *must* end up returning a pointer, pointers are thus what we
    standardize on.
    
    (There was even some writeup in the HACKME file about how we *might*
    encounter issues on this, and need to change to pointers-everywhere --
    the "pointer-vs-value inhabitant consistency" heading.  Yep: we did.
    And since this detail is now resolved, that doc section is dropped.)
    
    This doesn't really make any difference to performance.
    The old way would cause an alloc in those method via 'conv*' methods;
    the new way just makes it more explicit and go through a different
    runtime method at the bottom, but it's still the same number of
    allocations for essentially the same reasons.  (I do wonder if at some
    future point, the golang compiler might get cleverer about eliding
    'conv*' calls, and then this change we make here might be unfortunate;
    but that's certainly not true today, nor in the future at any proximity
    that I can foresee.)
    
    === iterator getters return nil for wrong-kind ===
    
    The Node.MapIterator and Node.ListIterator methods now return nil
    if you call them on non-maps or non-lists.
    
    Previously, they would return an iterator, but using it would just
    constantly error.
    
    I don't think anyone was honestly really checking those error thunks,
    and they made a lot of boilerplate white noise in the implementations,
    and the error is still entirely avoidable by checking the node kind
    up-front (and this is strictly preferable anyway, since it's faster
    than getting an error thunk, poking it to get the error, etc)...
    so, in total, there seem like very few reasons these were useful:
    the idea is thus dropped.
    
    Docs in the Node interface reflect this.
    
    === node/mixins makes new Node implementations easier ===
    
    The mixins package isn't usable directly, but if you're going to make
    a new Node implementation, it should save you a lot of typing...
    and also, boost consistency of basic error handling.
    
    Codegen will look forward to using this.  (Codegen already had much of
    these semantics internally, and so this package is sort of lifting that
    back out to be more generally usable.  By making it live out here as
    exported symbols in the core library, we should also reduce the sheer
    character count of codegen output.)
    
    === 'typed.Node' is now 'schema.TypedNode' ===
    
    A bunch of interfaces that were under the "impl/typed" path moved to
    be in the "schema" package instead.  This probably makes sense to you
    if you look at them and needs no further explanation.
    
    (The reason it comes in this diff, though, is that it was forced:
    adding better tests to the traversal package highlighted a bunch of
    cyclic dependency issues that came from 'typed.Node' being in a
    package that had concrete use of 'basicnode'.)
    
    === codecs ===
    
    The 'encoding' package is now named 'codec'.
    
    This name is shorter; it's more in line with vocabulary we use
    elsewhere in the IPLD project (whereas 'encoding' was more of a nod
    to the naming found in the golang standard library); and in my personal
    opinion it does better at describing the both directions of the process
    (whereas 'encoding' sounds like only the to-linear-bytes direction).
    
    I just like it better.
    
    === unmarshal functions no longer return node ===
    
    Unmarshal functions accept an NodeAssembler parameter (rather than
    a NodeBuilder, as before, nor a NodeStyle, which might also make sense
    in the new family of interfaces).
    
    This means they no longer need to return a Node, either -- the caller
    can decide where the unmarshalled data lands.  If the caller is using
    a NodeBuilder, it means they can call Build on that to get the value.
    (If it's a codegen NodeBuilder with More Information, the caller can
    use any specialized functions to get the more informative pointers
    without need for casting!)
    
    Broadly speaking, this means users of unmarshal functions have more
    control over how memory allocation comes into play.
    
    We may want to add more helper functions to the various codec packages
    which take a NodeStyle argument and do return a Node.  That's not in
    this diff, though.  (Need to decide what pattern of naming these
    various APIs would deserve, among other things.)
    
    === the fluent package ===
    
    The fluent package changed significantly.
    
    The readonly/Node side of it is dropped.  It didn't seem to get a ton
    of exercise in practice; the 'traversal' package (and in the future,
    perhaps also a 'cursor' package) addresses a lot of the same needs,
    and what remains is also covered well these days by the 'must' package;
    and the performance cost of fluent node wrappers as well as the
    composability obstruction of them... is just too much to be worth it.
    
    The few things that used fluent.Node for reading data now mostly use
    the 'must' package instead (and look better for it, imo).
    
    It's possible that some sort of fluent.Node will be rebuilt someday,
    but it's not entirely clear to me what it should look like, and indeed
    whether or not it's a good idea to have in the repo at all if the
    performance of it is counterindicated in a majority of situations...
    so, it's not part of today's update.
    
    The writing/NodeBuilder/NodeAssembler fluent wrappers are continued.
    It's similar to before (panics promptly on errors, and has a lot of
    closures)... but also reflects all of the changes made in the migration
    towards NodeAssembler: it doesn't return intermediate nodes, and
    there's much less kerfuffle with getting child builders.
    Overall, the fluent builders are now even more streamlined than before;
    the closures need even fewer parameters; great success!
    
    The fluent.NodeAssembler interface retains the "Create" terminology
    around maps and lists, even though in the core interfaces,
    the ipld.NodeAssembler interface now says "Begin" for maps and lists.
    This is because the fluent.NodeAssembler approach, with its use of
    closures, really does do the whole operation in one swoop.
    
    (It's amusing to note that this change includes finally nuking some
    fairly old "REVIEW" comment blocks from the old fluent package which
    regarded the "knb" value and other such sadness around typed recursion.
    Indeed, we've finally reviewed that: and the answer was indeed to do
    something drastically different to make those recursions dance well.)
    
    === selectors ===
    
    Selectors essentially didn't change as part of this diff.  Neat.
    
    (They should get a lot faster when applied, because our node
    implementations hit a lot less interface boxing in common operations!
    But the selector code itself didn't need to change to get the gains.)
    
    The 'selector/builder' helper package *did* change a bit.
    The changes are mostly invisible to the user.
    I do have some questions about the performance of the result; I've got
    a sneaking suspicion there's now a bunch of improvements that might be
    easier to get to now than they would've been previously.  But, this is
    not my quest today.  Perhaps it will deserve some review in the future.
    
    The 'selector/builder' package should be noted as having some
    interesting error handling strategies.  Namely, it doesn't.
    Any panics raised by the fluent package will just keep rising; there's
    no place where they're converted to regular error value returns.
    I'm not sure this is a good interface, but it's the way it was before
    I started passing through, so that's the way it stays after this patch.
    
    ExploreFieldsSpecBuilder.Delete disappears.  I hope no one misses it.
    I don't think anyone will.  I suspect it was there only because the
    ipld.MapBuilder interface had such a method and it seemed like a
    reasonable conservative choice at the time to proxy it; now that the
    method proxied is gone, though, so too shall go this.
    
    === traversal ===
    
    Traversal is mostly the same, but a few pieces of config have new names.
    
    `traversal.Config.LinkNodeBuilderChooser` is now
    `traversal.Config.LinkTargetNodeStyleChooser`.
    Still a mouthful; slightly more accurate; and reflects that it now
    works in terms of NodeStyle, which gives us a little more finesse in
    reasoning about where NodeBuilders are actually created, and thus
    better control and insight into where allocations happen.
    
    `traversal.NodeBuilderChooser` is now
    `traversal.LinkTargetNodeStyleChooser` for the same reasons.
    
    The actual type of the `LinkTargetNodeStyleChooser` now requires
    returning a `NodeStyle`, in case all the naming hasn't made it obvious.
    
    === disappearing node packages ===
    
    A couple of packages under 'impl/*' are just dropped.
    
    This is no real loss.  The packages dropped were Node implementations
    that simply weren't done.  Deleting them is an increase in honesty.
    
    This doesn't mean something with the same intentions as those packages
    won't come back; it's just not today.
    
    --- runtime typed node wrapper disappeared ---
    
    This one will come back.  It was just too much of a pain to carry
    along in this diff.  Since it was also a fairly unfinished
    proof-of-concept with no downstream users, it's easier to drop and
    later reincarnate it than it is to carry it along now.
    
    === linking ===
    
    Link.Load now takes a `NodeAssembler` parameter instead of a
    `NodeBuilder`, and no longer returns a `Node`!
    
    This should result in callers having a little more control over where
    allocations may occur, letting them potentially reuse builders, etc.
    
    This change should also make sense considering how codec.Unmarshal
    now similarly takes a NodeAssembler argument and does not return
    a Node value since its understood that the caller has some way to
    access or gather the effects, and it's none of our business.
    
    Something about the Link interface still feels a bit contorted.
    Having to give the Load method a Loader that takes half the same
    arguments all over again is definitely odd.  And it's tempting to take
    a peek at fixing this, since the method is getting a signature change.
    It's unclear what exactly to do about this, though, and probably
    a consequential design decision space... so it shall not be reopened
    today during this other large refactor.  Maybe soon.  Maybe.
    
    === the dag-json codec ===
    
    The dag-json codec got harder to implement.  Rrgh.
    
    Since we can't tell if something is going to become a Link until
    *several tokens in*, dag-json is always a bit annoying to deal with.
    Previously, however, dag-json could still start optimistically building
    a map node, and then just... quietly drop it if we turn out to be
    dealing with a link instead.  *That's no longer possible*: the process
    of using NodeAssembler doesn't have a general purpose mechanism for
    backtracking.
    
    So.  Now the dag-json codec has to do even more custom work to buffer
    tokens until it knows what to do with them.  Yey.
    
    The upside is: of course, the result is actually faster, and does fewer
    memory allocations, since it gathers enough information to decide what
    it's doing before it begins to do it.
    (This is a lovely example of the disciplined design of NodeAssembler's
    interface forcing other code to be better behaved and disciplined!)
    
    === traversal is faster ===
    
    The `BenchmarkSpec_Walk_MapNStrMap3StrInt/n=32` test has about doubled
    in speed on the new `basicnode` implementation in comparison to the old
    `ipldfree.Node` implementation.
    
    This is derived primarily from the drop in costs of iteration on
    `basicnode` compared to the old `ipldfree.Node` implementation.
    
    Some back-of-the-envelope math on the allocation still left around
    suggest it could double in speed again.  The next thing to target
    would be allocations of paths, followed by iterator allocations.
    Both are a tad trickier, though (see a recently merge-ignore'd
    commit for notes on iterators; and paths... paths will be a doozy
    because the path forward almost certainly involves path values
    becoming invalid if retained beyond a scope, which is... unsafe),
    so certainly need their own efforts and separate commits.
    
    === marshalling is faster ===
    
    Marshalling is much faster on the new `basicnode` implementation in
    comparison to the old `ipldfree.Node` implementation.
    Same reasons as traversal.
    
    Some fixes to marshalling which previously caused unnecessary
    allocations of token objects during recursions have also been made.
    These improve speed a bit (though it's not nearly as noticeable as the
    boost provided by the Node implementation improvements to iteration).
    
    === size hints showed up all over the place ===
    
    The appearance of size hint arguments to assembly of maps and lists
    is of course inevitable from the new NodeAssembler interface.
    
    It's particularly interesting to see how many of them showed up in
    the selector and selectorbuilder packages as constants.
    
    And super especially interesting how many of them are very small
    constants.  44 zeros.  86 ones.  25 twos.  9 threes.  2 fours.
    (Counted via variations of `grep -r 'Map(.*4, func' | wc -l`.)
    It's quite a distribution, neh?  We should probably consider some
    more optimizations specifically targeted to small maps.
    (This is an unscientific sample, and shifted by what we chose to
    focus on in testing, etc etc, but the general point stands.)
    
    `-1` is used to indicate "no idea" for size.  There's a small fix
    to the basicnode implementations to allow this.  A zero would work
    just as well in practice, but using a negative number as a hint to
    the human seems potentially useful.  It's a shame we can't make the
    argument optional; oh well.
    
    === codegen ===
    
    The codegen packages still all compile... but do nonsensical things,
    for the moment: they've not been updated to emit NodeAssembler.
    
    Since the output of codegen still isn't well rigged to test harnesses,
    this breakage is silent.
    
    The codegen packages will probably undergo a fairly tabula-rasa sweep
    in the near future.  There's been a lot of lessons learned since the
    start of the code currently there.  Updating to emit the NodeAssembler
    interface will be such a large endeavor it probably represents a good
    point to just do a fresh pass on the whole thing all at once.
    
    --------
    
    ... and that's all!
    
    Fun reading, eh?
    
    Please do forgive the refactors necessary for all this.  Truly, the
    performance improvements should make it all worth your while.
    4eb8c55c
unmarshal.go 3.8 KB