couple questions on method handle combinators

[Paul Sandoz]

> On 14 Jun 2017, at 10:36, Vladimir Ivanov <vladimir.x.ivanov at oracle.com> wrote:
> 
>>> 
>>> There's a simpler solution: since MH.asType() already uses 1-element cache [1], it should be enough to just mark MH.asTypeCache as @Stable.
>>> 
>> 
>> Would not invalidate the contract of @Stable where the value changes at most once? thereby causes issues for already compiled methods treating that as a constant when other code updates the value via an asType call.
> 
>> i realize that we break similar rules for updating the LF, but that is a special case where we are in control where as we don’t control who calls MH.asType.
> 
> It does break @Stable contract, but the JVM doesn't forbid multiple updates to @Stable fields and it's a benign case: keeping a stale value "cached" in compiled code doesn't break asType() caching logic. (For user it looks like the cache is always stale and MH.asType() should be recomputed.)
> 

Just concerned that biasing to the first caller of asType may push the perf problem around.

I have a hunch for generic invokers we could cache an asType equivalent result at the call site by stuffing into some stable field of an appendix holder. That’s more work though.

Paul.