JDK-8230501: Class data support for hidden classes

[John Rose]

Thanks; that looks good to go.  — John

> On Nov 17, 2020, at 12:43 PM, Mandy Chung <mandy.chung at oracle.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks for the feedback, John and Remi.
> 
> Here is the updated specdiff:
>    http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~mchung/jdk16/webrevs/8230501/specdiff/ <http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~mchung/jdk16/webrevs/8230501/specdiff/>
> 
> I added @apiNote in `defineClassHiddenWithClassData` about mutability.
> I keep `classData` that can be used for a single-item class data or of type other than List like array, map, or even record.   `classDataAt` makes it easier for those who use a list as the class data (that can be extended for frozen arrays in the future).    The @apiNote suggests the good practice to use unmodifiable List.   (Stream::asList is not yet integrated and no reference from the @apiNote).
> 
> I will update https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/pull/1171 <https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/pull/1171> 
> 
> Mandy
> 
> On 11/13/20 5:11 PM, John Rose wrote:
>> I see your point; it’s the unconditional use of List.{copy,}of
>> that is the hard problem (with nulls).  The problem with
>> @Stable is a minor internal perf. bug, not a problem with
>> the API.
>> 
>> I agree that the basic single ClassData should not be
>> restricted to a List.  (But if it were, it should be copied
>> by Stuart’s null-friendly immutable list-maker.)
>> 
>> I also think it’s reasonable to trust users of condy
>> to take adequate care of mutability issues.  I suggest
>> adding an @apiNote which says “Think twice before
>> passing an array or other mutable structure through
>> the ClassData.  If you use a List, make it unmodifiable,
>> using List.of or Stream.asList.”
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 13, 2020, at 3:25 PM, forax at univ-mlv.fr <mailto:forax at univ-mlv.fr> wrote:
>>> ----- Mail original -----
>>>> De: "John Rose" <john.r.rose at oracle.com> <mailto:john.r.rose at oracle.com>
>>>> À: "Remi Forax" <forax at univ-mlv.fr> <mailto:forax at univ-mlv.fr>
>>>> Cc: "mandy chung" <mandy.chung at oracle.com> <mailto:mandy.chung at oracle.com>, "valhalla-dev" <valhalla-dev at openjdk.java.net> <mailto:valhalla-dev at openjdk.java.net>
>>>> Envoyé: Vendredi 13 Novembre 2020 23:46:24
>>>> Objet: Re: JDK-8230501: Class data support for hidden classes
>>>> On Nov 13, 2020, at 2:02 PM, forax at univ-mlv.fr <mailto:forax at univ-mlv.fr> wrote:
>>>>> I want it, null is easy to check in term of bytecode and is aggressively
>>>>> propagated by c1 and c2 so you can write the equivalent IFDEF at runtine by
>>>>> putting nulls in the right holes.
>>>>> It's also pretty useful when you have object that have a double representation,
>>>>> i.e. a value that can be a primitive value or a box, again testing if the box
>>>>> is null is a common operation.
>>>> Null as a static constant can be created easily by other means,
>>>> so in most use cases, there’s no need to plumb a null through
>>>> a ClassData.  Just use aconst_null or ili.CBs::nullConstant.
>>> yes,
>>> but i was thinking about using it to define things like a capability, being null meaning the capability doesn't exist,
>>> so you still also need to be able to pass a real object if the capability exists.
>>> 
>>> something like
>>>  if (ldc condy != null) {
>>>    ldc condy
>>>    invokevirtual ...
>>>  }
>>> 
>>>> Maybe what you are hoping for is statically generated bytecodes
>>>> which are invariant across nullable “holes”, where the holes
>>>> are filled by a ClassData. 
>>> yes,
>>> it's the same bytecode specialized using holes, so you don't have to generate it at runtime, only to specialize it at runtime.
>>> 
>>>> Fine, in that case use a nullable container, such as Stuart Marks’ Stream::asList.
>>> First, you can not using the result of toList() if it's a null friendly List because Mandy propose to use a List.copyOf() in between that will choke is there is a null inside the List.
>>> Moreover if Stuart still want to use ListN to both this kind of List and List.of(...) then the result of ListN.get() will not be a constant if the value is null (because of the semantics of @Stable).
>>> Which means that classData() will be useless, the only way will be to use classDataAt().
>>> 
>>> To summarize, if the only thing you can inject is a List which will be copy into an immutable list, passing null will not be easy, I can still wrap it and then unwrap it with you own condy BSM, it makes classData() useless as a BSM and makes passing only one object far more complex than the previous proposal.
>>> 
>>>> — John
>>> Rémi
>