WebAssembly / WebAssembly/tool-conventions

performance issue for std::span on wasm C calling convention

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Dominant language
WebAssembly
Stars
372
Forks
75
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

#include<span>
#include<cstddef>

void baz(::std::size_t *ptr,::std::size_t n) noexcept;

void foo(::std::span<::std::size_t> sp) noexcept
{
	baz(sp.data(),sp.size());
}

void bar(::std::size_t *ptr,::std::size_t n) noexcept
{
	baz(ptr,n);
}
_Z3fooNSt3__14spanImLm4294967295EEE:    # @_Z3fooNSt3__14spanImLm4294967295EEE
	.functype	_Z3fooNSt3__14spanImLm4294967295EEE (i32) -> ()
# %bb.0:
	local.get	0
	i32.load	0
	local.get	0
	i32.load	4
	call	_Z3bazPmm
                                        # fallthrough-return
	end_function
                                        # -- End function
	.section	.text._Z3barPmm,"",@
	.hidden	_Z3barPmm                       # -- Begin function _Z3barPmm
	.globl	_Z3barPmm
	.type	_Z3barPmm,@function
_Z3barPmm:                              # @_Z3barPmm
	.functype	_Z3barPmm (i32, i32) -> ()
# %bb.0:
	local.get	0
	local.get	1
	call	_Z3bazPmm
                                        # fallthrough-return
	end_function

std::span is passed by memory, not by registers on wasm. which is extremely slow.

This is going to encourage people to overuse pointers. Please change the calling convention here. Also, the return value has the same issue.

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  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the WebAssembly calling-convention conventions relevant to the C++ std::span example and compare the shown foo and bar assembly. Determine how span parameters and return values should be passed, then document the convention and validate it against generated wasm for both cases.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, wasm
Domain
compilers, performance
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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