Six bottom-up IR rewrites (const-fold, inline-node, subst, flatten-lets,
subst-lookup, scalar-replace) each hand-listed every op's child positions —
~250 lines of identical "recurse children, rebuild" arms that had to be kept in
sync whenever an op was added. Extract one map-ir-children into ir.clj that
knows each op's child layout; each walk keeps only its genuine specials
(const-fold's invoke/if, inline-node's invoke, subst's local/let alpha-rename,
scalar-replace's invoke/let folds) and delegates the rest.
The combinator is total over the op set, so the walks are now total too: a
couple soundly gain coverage they previously skipped (const-fold now folds
inside :try; subst-lookup now recurses :def inits, which fixes a latent dangling
ref where a dropped const-key-map binding was referenced inside a def). These
are sound — all six are result-preserving optimizations — and 3-mode conformance
+ fixpoint confirm identical program behavior.
map-ir-children is shape-preserving for :try (recurses :catch-body/:finally only
when present, never assoc's nil) so it can't turn a struct node into a phm.
Written with cond/get only, matching the passes' tier, so no new load-order dep.
Predicates (body-closed?/pure?/local-escapes?), the type-threading infer, and the
Janet backend emit stay as-is: their conservative :else defaults / [type node]
threading / host language don't fit a node-rebuilding combinator.
Adds ir-passes-test coverage for folding reaching fn/loop/try bodies. Full gate
green (conformance x3, suite >=4695/88, fixpoint stage1==2==3, inline-sra + devirt).
eval-dot copy-pasted its entire dispatch chain across the (. obj method args...)
and (. obj member) forms — string/number/object/tagged-shim lookup duplicated,
hand-synced on every interop change. Extract one dispatch-member that takes the
evaluated args plus a has-args flag. The shared head (string/number/object/
tagged) is single-sourced; the genuinely divergent tails (call form: record →
native field → coll-interop(args); bare form: zero-arg coll-interop → field /
zero-arg method) stay branched on has-args. The guards that differed between the
arms (object-methods checks table? only; tagged dispatch checks table-or-struct;
bare-form tagged dispatch requires the member present) are preserved verbatim,
keyed off has-args, so behavior is identical.
Adds a "dot dispatch arms" spec locking the divergent cases: zero-arg vs
with-arg coll-interop, record/deftype zero-arg vs with-args methods, -field
access. Full gate green.
5d: document the seed↔overlay boundary and add a drift check. core fns split
across a Janet seed (core-X, registered in core-bindings) and a Clojure overlay;
five names (char?/sorted?/sorted-map?/sorted-set?/transduce) carry a defn in
both, with the overlay copy authoritative and the seed copy internal-only. The
into-vs-transduce home asymmetry was undocumented. Adds docs/seed-overlay-registry.md,
SEED-TWIN: comments at the five seed sites, and a build-time drift check
(test/unit/seed-overlay-registry-test.janet) that recomputes the twin set from
source and fails if it diverges or a twin leaks into core-bindings.
5e: rep↔API pointer comments in pv/plist/phm/phs/lazyseq (representation lives
here; Clojure-facing ops dispatch in core_coll/core_types) and back-pointers in
core_coll. No behavior change — comments, docs, one source-analysis test.
Full gate green (suite ≥4695 pass / ≥88 clean files), drift check passes.
main.janet held ~45 lines of env-knob policy (open-mode / direct-link / optimize
/ shapes / whole-program gates) that couldn't be unit-tested without the CLI, and
two disk-image caches (api/init-cached, main/deps-image) each hand-built a
POSITIONAL "%q|%q|..." key that silently misaligned if a ctx-shaping knob was
added in only one place.
config.janet now owns:
ctx-shaping-env-vars the canonical list of env vars that shape the built ctx
ctx-cache-key a labeled key (name=value) over a prefix + every shaping
var, so adding a knob updates BOTH cache keys at once and
can't positionally alias two different builds
resolve-run-mode [open-mode? main-entry?] -> the ctx env knob map
main shrinks to: compute open-mode?/main-entry? from argv, call resolve-run-mode,
install the knobs. Both deps-image-path (main) and image-cache-path (api) build
their keys via ctx-cache-key. New test/unit/config-test.janet locks in the
run-mode cases and asserts every ctx-shaping env var participates in the key.
Scope: this is 4a + the 4b cache-key footgun fix. The optional 4b cleanup
(folding the load/save image dance + aot marshal helpers into one ctx_image
module) is left for a follow-up — it's lower value and higher blast radius.
No behavior change (cache keys now key on a superset of env vars, so at worst a
one-time cold rebuild). Gate green: conformance 355x3, clojure-test-suite 4718
pass (>= 4695 baseline), config-test, full jpm test exit 0.
* Protocol/interop fixes to run metosin/malli
Bringing up malli (schema validation) surfaced a batch of protocol and host-interop
gaps. m/validate now works across the schema vocabulary (predicates, :map incl.
nested/optional, :vector, :tuple, :enum, :maybe, :and, bounded int/string).
- extend-type and reify now accept MULTIPLE protocols in one form (each bare
symbol switches the current protocol). reify records every protocol it
implements, so instance?/satisfies? recognise all of them.
- Protocol method params support destructuring: reify/extend-type/deftype/
defrecord emit (fn ...) (which desugars patterns) instead of raw fn*.
- instance? of a PROTOCOL works like satisfies? for reify/record instances,
matching short names across qualified/bare protocol references.
- @x reads as the qualified clojure.core/deref, so it still derefs where a ns
excludes and rebinds deref (malli does). Updated reader-test + the reader
spec/grammar (S11, deref rule).
- Java collection interop on jolt collections: .nth/.count/.valAt/.get/.seq/
.containsKey route to the clojure.core equivalent (1-arg and 0-arg paths).
- java.util.HashMap capacity/load-factor constructors + .putAll.
- A class used as a value resolves to its instances' type, so Pattern -> the
regex type (malli keys class-schemas by it).
- Shims for malli's load path: LazilyPersistentVector/createOwning and
PersistentArrayMap/createWithCheck statics.
m/explain not yet working (jolt-fjb1). Full gate green.
* satisfies? recognizes reify, consistent with instance?
A reify's protocol methods are instance-local, so they aren't in the global type
registry that type-satisfies? consults — satisfies? returned false for a reify
even when it implemented the protocol. Check the protocols the reify records on
itself (the same :jolt/protocols list instance? uses), matching short names like
instance? does. Covers single- and multi-protocol reify.
---------
Co-authored-by: Yogthos <yogthos@gmail.com>
* Add architecture refactor plan
Synthesizes a six-part architectural review into phased, gate-validated cleanup
work. Targets LLM-maintainability: one home per feature, no god-files, explicit
checked contracts, no copy-paste dispatch. No code changes yet — the plan only.
* Refactor phase 0: dead code + isolated bugs
Pure cleanup ahead of the structural phases (docs/architecture-refactor-plan.md).
No behavior change except the two bug fixes, which are covered by a regression row.
Dead code (all verified zero-reference or overridden):
- core-resolve / core-satisfies? / core-type->str seed stubs + bindings —
resolve and satisfies? are interned by install-stateful-fns! (the seed copies
were shadowed); type->str was an inert SCI stub with no callers.
- find defined twice in 20-coll.clj; the dead copy returned a plain vector
(wrong — the live def at :787 returns a real map-entry) with a comment that
contradicted it.
- mark-hint (passes.clj), phs-to-struct (phm), shape-vals / ns-imports-fn
(types) — unreferenced.
- redundant local pad2 in javatime (module-level one already in scope).
Bugs:
- File.toURL stored :url but every :jolt/url method reads :spec, so a URL from
(.toURL file) returned nil from all its methods. Now stores :spec (+ spec row).
- pl-rest had a no-op (if (plist? r) r r); collapsed to r.
- :map-shapes? was missing from the deps-image cache key — two runs differing
only in map-shapes could reuse each other's image.
Also dropped read-quote's unused pos param. Full gate green.
---------
Co-authored-by: Yogthos <yogthos@gmail.com>
Under direct-linking a record is a Janet tuple (its shape-rec), and core-vector?
just delegated to jvec? which is true for any tuple — so (vector? a-record) and
(sequential? a-record) returned true. That broke map-destructuring of a record:
the destructure coerce treats a sequential source as & {:keys} kwargs and does
(apply hash-map x), so destructuring a record fed its entries to make-phm as a
flat kv-list and corrupted. Surfaced as reitit's router crashing on a wildcard
route ('expected integer key for tuple in range [0,5), got 5') whenever the new
direct-link default was on; minimal repro is (let [{:keys [a]} (->R ...)] ...).
Fix: core-vector? excludes shape-recs, matching Clojure (a record is not a
vector or sequential). jvec? is unchanged for internal representation dispatch.
Regression cases added to record-declared-shape-test.
Running a program is a closed world — every namespace is required, then it runs
to completion — so make it direct-link by default (inlining, record shapes, the
inference's specialization), and for a -m/-M entry auto-enable the whole-program
cross-namespace inference pass. A decomposed multi-namespace program was ~3.7x
slower than the same code in one namespace purely because per-namespace
inference can't see a caller in a not-yet-loaded namespace; this closes that for
the common case with no flags and no hints.
Interactive modes (repl, -e, nrepl-server) stay indirect/open — they have to let
you redefine vars, which direct-linking seals against. Opt-outs:
JOLT_NO_DIRECT_LINK forces the open path even for a program run (hot-reload,
runtime redefinition); JOLT_NO_WHOLE_PROGRAM keeps direct-linking but per-ns;
JOLT_DIRECT_LINK / JOLT_WHOLE_PROGRAM still force-on. Namespaces required inside
-main (after the batch pass) fall back to per-ns inference.
The success checker (RFC 0006) rides on the inference for free, but a casual
program run shouldn't spam type warnings just because it now direct-links, so its
default-on is suppressed when direct-linking was auto-enabled (:direct-link-auto?);
an explicit JOLT_DIRECT_LINK or JOLT_TYPE_CHECK still turns it on. whole-program-
test and devirt-test opt their per-ns baseline out of the new auto-default.
Docs: RFC 0005 gains 'Compilation modes and defaults' + 'Cross-namespace
inference'; RFC 0004 documents cross-ns/param hints; self-hosting-compiler and
--help updated. Full gate green.
A ^RecordType hint only resolved against the current namespace's ctor key, so a
hint naming a record defined in another namespace degraded to :any. That made a
decomposed multi-namespace program much slower than the monolith: per-namespace
inference can't see a record param's callers in other namespaces, and the
declared hint that could have typed it was dropped.
Resolution now works cross-namespace, for both record FIELD hints (defrecord)
and fn PARAM hints, in both spellings — ^Vec3 where the type is referred and
^v/Vec3 where the namespace is aliased:
- reader keeps a tag's namespace qualifier (^t/Ray -> "t/Ray", was "Ray").
- make-deftype-ctor-impl indexes each ctor closure by value; record-hint-ctor-key
resolves a hint name against the COMPILE ns (referred names live there; aliases
resolve through it) and maps the type var's root back to its home ctor key.
Using the ctor value, not the var's :ns, is what makes :refer work — :refer
re-interns a fresh var whose :ns is the referring ns.
- the analyzer captures record param hints as arity :phints [name ctor-key];
reinfer-def seeds those param types, so a record param is typed even with no
inferred caller — the open-world / cross-ns case.
Effect on the multi-namespace ray tracer: per-ns compile 30.4s -> 7.9s with
param hints, matching whole-program (8.1s) and the single-ns monolith (8.3s).
cross-ns-hints-test covers field + param hints, refer + as, and the reader tag.
direct-var? now treats a cfunction root the same as a function root, so a
call/ref to a native fn (clojure.math/sqrt et al.) embeds the value instead of
a per-call cell deref. This was the hot indirection in the ray tracer — sqrt
runs every bounce — and it applies in every direct-link build, not just
whole-program.
const-link? is new and whole-program-only: in a closed world every non-dynamic
var has a stable root, so embed it as a constant (quoted unless it's already
callable) rather than reading the cell each reference. Covers what direct-var?
can't — ^:redef vars (reloading is off under the flag), data defs, and record
type/ctor roots. Dynamic vars stay indirect; a nil (not-yet-defined) root stays
indirect and the whole-program re-emit picks it up once the root is in place.
Measured on the records ray tracer: hot-path indirect refs (sqrt + data vars)
gone; the only indirect refs left are cold defrecord self-references. whole-
program-test now also checks a ^:redef fn and a data def so the per-ns vs
whole-program comparison guards const-link soundness.
A protocol method call compiles to (protocol-dispatch proto method this rest) — a
runtime registry walk (type-tag -> proto -> method) on every call, ~19x a direct
call. When the inference proves the receiver (arg 0) is a known record type, the
call now resolves to a DIRECT method call at compile time, skipping the registry.
- defprotocol registers each method's var-key 'ns/method' -> [proto method] (a
ctx-capturing register-protocol-methods! emitted into the do-block); infer-unit!
feeds it to the inference via a box (like record-shapes).
- the record-ctor return type carries :type (the record tag) so the inference
knows the receiver type; the :else invoke case annotates a protocol call whose
arg0 has a known :type with :devirt-{type,proto,method}.
- emit-invoke resolves the impl via find-protocol-method at emit time and emits a
direct call to the embedded impl fn value. Unknown/polymorphic receivers (no
proven :type) fall back to the dispatch path unchanged.
Measured: removes the dispatch overhead (14.7s -> 9.3s on a 10M-call loop); the
remaining cost is the method body itself (non-inlined, unproven reads) — inlining
the resolved method is the follow-up (jolt-t6r) toward direct-call speed.
Sound under the closed-world assumption direct-linking already makes (the impl is
resolved + embedded at compile time). Adds devirt-test (subprocess: dispatched ==
devirtualized across polymorphic dispatch, unknown-receiver fallback, and
heterogeneous collections). Stalin's compile-call/callee-environment is the model.
JOLT_WHOLE_PROGRAM (requires direct-linking) defers the per-namespace inference
and runs ONE fixpoint over every user unit at once, so param types propagate
across namespace boundaries — a non-inlined fn's record params get proven from
its callers in another unit, which the per-ns pass can't see. Sound only under
the closed-world assumption (no later eval/redefinition) the flag asserts; slow,
memory-heavy builds are the documented trade-off (the reason it's opt-in).
infer-unit! now takes one ns-name OR a list; infer-program! gathers all recorded
user namespaces and runs the existing fixpoint over the union (re-emit was already
ns-agnostic — keyed by var-key, callee-first). The evaluator defers + records each
unit under the flag; run-main triggers infer-program! after all requires, before
-main. Off by default — per-ns behaviour unchanged.
Measured: a recursive (non-inlined) cross-ns record reader runs 1.66x faster
(8.9s -> 5.3s) — params proven -> bare-index reads. NOTE: small accessor fns are
INLINED cross-ns and records carry GLOBAL declared shapes, so most record reads
are already proven without this pass; the win is for non-inlined hot fns, and it's
the foundation for future whole-program work (devirtualization, unboxing).
Adds whole-program-test (subprocess soundness: per-ns and whole-program produce
identical results on a cross-ns record program).
Records (defrecord/deftype) are now shape-recs in a direct-linking unit by
default — no JOLT_SHAPE flag. A record's shape is DECLARED, so the inference
proves field reads by a lookup, not fragile shape inference, and they bare-index.
Result: ~1.4x faster than the :jolt/deftype table form on a record-heavy loop
(3.9s vs 5.5s), driven by cheaper construction + proven bare-index reads.
Two gates now:
- :shapes? — shape-recs active; records use declared-shape layout + bare
index reads. On with direct-linking (where the inference runs).
- :map-shapes? — also shape generic const-key maps. Opt-in (JOLT_SHAPE), because
shaping maps net-loses on unproven reads (measured). Records win.
- call-ret-type types a record ctor (->Name) as a struct of its declared shape,
fed from a ctx-env registry populated at deftype; field reads on the result
bare-index. (set-record-shapes!/set-map-shapes! wired through infer-unit!.)
- sidx reads the field's position from the :shape vector AS-IS (declared order
for records, str-sorted for map literals) — no re-sort — so any field order
bare-indexes correctly. The map :map case only sets :shape under :map-shapes?.
- record-shape-for interns the descriptor per (type, fields), not per type: a
record redefined with different fields now gets a fresh descriptor instead of a
stale one (fixes redef descriptor staleness; old instances stay valid).
Adds record-declared-shape-test (declared-order reads, incl. non-alphabetical
fields, through fn boundaries + protocol method bodies). Known pre-existing edge
case filed as jolt-wf4 (direct (:f (->R …)) read returns nil after a record is
redefined with different fields; let-bound read works; repros without shapes).
Record shape-recs now compare type-aware like the table form: eq-map-pairs
returns nil for a record so equality falls to deep=, which is type-aware via the
per-type interned descriptor. A record equals only a same-type record, never a
plain map (cross-type and record-vs-map were wrongly equal under JOLT_SHAPE).
assoc of a new (undeclared) key keeps the record type and grows a slot, matching
Clojure's record-extension semantics.
Adds test/integration/record-shape-test.janet locking in the runtime record
mechanism (tag, field access, virtual :jolt/deftype, type-preserving assoc,
dissoc demotion, type-aware equality, #ns.Type{...} printing).
Removes ALL hardcoding. Every constant-key map literal in user code becomes a
shape-rec (a Janet tuple [descriptor v0 v1 ...]); the descriptor is interned
per key SET with a single canonical key order owned by the runtime
(types/shape-sort), so every site that builds or reads a shape agrees.
Consistency is the foundation: shape-recs are made UNCONDITIONALLY for
const-key user maps (emit-map), not gated on the inference — so a value's
representation always matches what the type system claims, which was the bug
that broke the earlier generalization (a ray built as a struct but bare-indexed
as a shape). Gated on :inline? so it applies to user data only, never to core
or the compiler's own IR-node maps.
Transparency layer (the shape-rec block now lives in types.janet, reachable by
core + evaluator + backend): get, assoc, dissoc, count, contains?, map?, first,
seq, the central realize-for-iteration normalizer (keys/vals/reduce-kv), eq-map-
pairs + eq-seqable (equality), pr-render (print), jolt-call (compiled IFn), and
the interpreter's coll-lookup all handle shape-recs. A new spec
(shape-transparency-test) asserts each op matches the equivalent struct map,
including nil/false values (which shape-recs store positionally — unlike
structs).
The ray tracer renders byte-identically (mean 122.04). Gate green with the flag
off, suite 4718. NOT yet faster — every field read currently takes the
descriptor path because the inference drops the complete :shape through joins
and containers; that's Round 2 (completeness preservation). All behind
JOLT_SHAPE (off by default).
Pivot from a jolt reimplementation to running the upstream library verbatim.
Vendors the real clojure/tools/logging.clj; jolt provides the backend and the
host primitives it needs. Language features (broadly useful for real Clojure
libs), all covered in 3-mode conformance + spec suites:
- defmacro: multi-arity dispatch (jolt-q8l) and a docstring + attr-map + params
head (jolt-qnr) — the 4-arity log macro and every level macro need these.
- syntax-quote resolves an alias-qualified symbol to its target ns (jolt-9av),
so a macro template (impl/get-logger) resolves at the use site.
- the ns macro unwraps ^{:map} metadata on the ns name (jolt-8w2 workaround,
matching def/defn/defmacro).
- a namespace object self-evaluates, so ~*ns* can be spliced into a template.
Host shims (ported from / modeled on clojure where applicable):
- clojure.string/trim-newline (ported, CharSequence interop -> count/subs)
- agent/send-off/send (minimal synchronous stubs; jolt has no thread pool/STM)
- clojure.lang.LockingTransaction/isRunning -> false
- a minimal clojure.pprint (pprint/with-pprint-dispatch/code-dispatch, for spy)
- clojure.tools.logging.impl: a jolt stderr LoggerFactory backend (the library's
designed pluggable extension point)
docs/libraries.md lists tools.logging; grammar.ebnf metadata note clarified.
Conformance 355/355 x3 modes; full jpm test gate green.
methods/get-method now take the multimethod VALUE (Clojure semantics), so the
arg must resolve to compile. The isolated analyzer never defines mf, so point
these two at print-method (a real defmulti) instead.
Two provably-wrong cases the inference already has the facts for, closing the
last RFC 0006 open question:
- Calling a non-function. At an :invoke whose callee is provably :num or :str
(the only non-callable types — keywords/maps/vectors/sets are IFn), report
"cannot call a number as a function". Default level (no closed-world: the
callee type is inferred at the call site). Covers (5 1), ("hi" 0),
((+ 1 2) :k), a let-bound number, and a var holding a number (via vtype-box
in direct-link). A union is non-callable only when every member is, so
((if c 1 :k) x) is accepted (:kw is callable). Verified zero false positives
on the ray tracer, which calls maps/keywords/vectors as fns throughout.
- Wrong arity to a user fn. The registered single-fixed-arity sig (jolt-zo1)
makes a mismatched arg count provably throw; reported under the
JOLT_TYPE_CHECK_USER opt-in (same closed-world boundary; ^:redef/variadic
skipped). Caught at compile time before the runtime arity error.
Both fold into the existing infer walk, carry :pos for file:line:col, and keep
no-false-positives. Gate green, suite 4718, conformance 335/335, runtime bench
even (compile-time only).
Checking inherently needs an inference pass (~2.6x compile as a standalone
pass). But direct-link builds ALREADY run one inference pass for
specialization (run-passes' infer-top), so checking can ride along: set a
check-mode flag, turn checking? on during that existing pass, and collect
the diagnostics after — ~2% overhead measured on the ray tracer, vs 2.6x
for the separate pass.
So the checker now defaults to `warn` in direct-link builds (where it's
nearly free) and stays OFF in plain REPL/dev builds (no inference to ride,
no forced cost — opt in with JOLT_TYPE_CHECK there). JOLT_TYPE_CHECK still
overrides in both directions (off to disable, error to escalate).
It checks the POST-optimization IR, which matches what the optimized
program actually evaluates — scalar-replace only drops provably-pure code,
an accepted opt-mode divergence, so no real error is hidden. The loaders
enable position tracking whenever checking will run (env-selected or
direct-link). type-check! (the standalone pass) stays for plain builds;
both paths share report-diags!.
cli-test pins: plain build silent, direct-link warns by default,
JOLT_TYPE_CHECK=off disables. Gate green, suite 4718, runtime bench even.
rewrite-message assumed janet's BINARY arithmetic dispatch error shape
("could not find method :+ for 1 or :r+ for "a""). Unary inc/dec/- on a
non-number produce "could not find method :+ for "x"" — no "or :r" clause
— so orpos was nil and the reporter itself threw "could not find method :+
for nil", burying the real error. Handle the unary form. Found auditing
the RFC 0006 checker's default (checker-off) path. Regression row in
cli-test.
RFC 0006 error reporting wanted file:line:col but IR nodes carried no
position, so diagnostics read only "type error in <ns>: <msg>". Now:
type error /tmp/scene.clj:5:5: `inc` requires a number, but argument 1 is a string
The reader records each LIST form's absolute start offset in a table keyed
by form identity (lists are fresh arrays, never interned), gated behind a
flag the loaders enable only when JOLT_TYPE_CHECK is on — zero cost off.
Keying by identity makes positions survive macroexpansion exactly when the
user's own sub-form is spliced through, and absent for macro-synthesized
structure: a `(inc :k)` written inside `(when c ...)` reports at its own
line, never at the expansion's generated if/do.
The analyzer stamps the offset onto :invoke nodes (form-position host
contract fn); the checker carries it into each diagnostic as :pos; the
loaders stash the file's source + path on the env (save/restored across
nested requires); backend/type-check! converts offset -> line:col via the
reader's line-col and renders the RFC format. Falls back to the ns when no
position is available (synthetic forms), so it is never worse than before.
Gate green, conformance 335/335, suite 4718, runtime bench even (positions
are compile-time only; off by default).
The success checker fired only against core-fn error domains (stable, not
redefinable). This adds reporting of a call that passes a provably-wrong
type to a USER fn whose body requires otherwise — e.g. a fn that only does
arithmetic on a param, called with a string.
As check-walk sees defs it registers each non-redefinable single-fixed-arity
user fn's {:params :body} in module state (user-sig-box, accumulating across
forms like rtenv-box — a def must precede its call). At a call site (strict
mode only) the body is re-checked with ONE parameter bound to its concrete
argument type, others :any; if that produces a diagnostic the all-:any body
did not, the argument alone is provably wrong and the call is reported.
Monotonic — binding a concrete type can only add error-domain hits — so still
no false positives. A cycle guard (checking-box) terminates mutual recursion.
Gated behind JOLT_TYPE_CHECK_USER (orthogonal to the warn/error level)
because it rests on the closed-world assumption, weaker than the core-fn
case. check-form gains a strict? arity; the default path is unchanged and
user-fn code runs only when the checker is enabled. ^:redef/^:dynamic and
multi/variadic fns are not registered (their body is no stable requirement).
Gate green, suite 4718, conformance 335/335.
The success checker (RFC 0006) used to lose differing if-branches to :any
and accept the use. (inc (if c "a" :k)) typed the if as :any — sound but
imprecise, since the value is provably {:str | :kw}, every member of which
is in inc's error domain.
Adds {:union #{T...}} to the lattice: join-t forms a scalar union of
differing branches instead of collapsing to :any, capped at 4 distinct
scalars (the member space is the five scalar tags, so the lattice stays
finite and the inter-procedural fixpoint still terminates). The checker's
not-number?/not-seqable? report a union only when EVERY member is in the
error domain — any valid member accepts the call, so still no false
positives. type-name renders "a string or a keyword".
Unions are scalar-only and carry no :struct/:vec/:set key, so every
structural predicate already treats them as opaque — specialization sees
them exactly as :any and codegen is unchanged. Gate green, suite 4718,
conformance 335/335, bench even.
Reuse the structural inference from RFC 0005 as a loose type checker. It reports
a core-fn call only when an argument's inferred type is concrete and lies in
that op's throwing error domain, and accepts everything ambiguous (:any, a
union that joined to :any, :truthy). By construction it never produces a false
positive: a correct program has nothing to report even in error mode.
The curated error-domain table starts with the clearest throwing cases:
arithmetic on a provable non-number, and count/first/rest/next/seq/nth on a
provable non-seqable scalar. Lenient operations like (get 5 :k) and (:k 5),
which return nil rather than throw, are deliberately not listed.
Checking is decoupled from specialization: it runs whenever JOLT_TYPE_CHECK is
warn or error, regardless of :inline?, reading the knob at compile time so no
rebuild is needed. warn prints to stderr, error fails the form's compilation,
off (the default) skips it entirely. Core init stays clean under the flag.
jolt-y3b
Replace the ad-hoc inference lattice (a flat :struct-map tag plus {:vec ELEM})
with one recursive structural type: {:struct {field -> T}}, {:vec T}, {:set T},
scalar tags, and :any. A keyword lookup now returns its field's type, so nested
access like (:r (:direction ray)) is typed end to end and drops its guard. join
is field-wise and element-wise with a depth cap of 4 so the inter-procedural
fixpoint still terminates.
The back end honors a struct hint on any subject node, not just locals, so an
inferred field type on a nested lookup specializes. The orchestrator's fixpoint
joins through the portable join-types so compound types no longer collapse to
:any.
Ray tracer goes 12.8s to 11.0s with no hints, matching the explicit ^:struct
version (10.9s). Render checksum unchanged (1915337), full gate green,
conformance x3 modes pass.
jolt-5uj
The inference now tags a :local it proved to be a vector with :hint :vector, and
the back end specializes (count v) -> pv-count (skipping core-count's dispatch
chain) and the 3-arg (nth v i default) -> pv-nth. The 2-arg nth is deliberately
NOT specialized: pv-nth returns nil out-of-bounds where Clojure nth throws.
Sound, conformance 335/335 x3 and full jpm test pass; type-infer-phase2-test
pins the specialization and the 2-arg exclusion.
Extends the inference lattice with a parametric vector type {:vec ELEM} and
threads element types through the program:
- vector literals, conj/into, and range produce element-typed vectors;
- reduce/map/mapv/filter/filterv seed their closure's element (and reduce's
accumulator) param, so a lookup inside the closure over a vector-of-structs
specializes (the HOF-element-awareness piece);
- a var reference carries a VALUE type — a fn var is :truthy (non-nil, sealed
root), a def var carries its inferred init type (e.g. a color table is
{:vec :struct-map}); element-returning fns (rand-nth/first/nth/...) yield the
collection's element type. These let the dynamically-built scene's sphere
maps type as structs.
The inter-procedural fixpoint now also infers non-fn def value types, and the
recompile re-emits the WHOLE unit callee-first (reverse-topological) so a
caller re-embeds its recompiled, now-specialized callees and a call site
compiled after the pass links the whole chain.
Result on the ray tracer (no hints): the chain closes — hittables infers to
{:vec :struct-map}, hit-sphere's hittable param to :struct-map — and the render
goes 13.1s -> 12.8s. That is only ~3%, far short of the explicit hint's 1.22x.
The remaining gap is nested field access: a lookup RESULT like (:direction ray)
is :any, so (:r (:direction ray)) stays guarded, and the vec3 fns (called with
such values) can't be typed struct. The hint asserts the vec3 params directly
and propagates through inlining; matching it needs field-shape types
(ray.direction : vec3, vec3.r : number) — a structural extension (Phase 4).
Sound: a seeded full render produces an identical checksum (1915337);
conformance 335/335 x3 and the full jpm test pass; type-infer-phase3-test pins
the element-typing + HOF mechanism. Phase 2 (vector nth/count specialization)
was deprioritized — it is orthogonal to this benchmark.
Closed-world (optimization mode): after a unit loads, infer-unit! runs a
whole-unit fixpoint over the call graph and recompiles. A fn's param types are
the lub of its in-unit call-site arg types; its return type is the lub of its
tail positions; iterated to a least fixpoint. Param types are RECOMPUTED FRESH
each iteration (not accumulated) because :any is the lattice top — joining an
early-iteration :any would poison the result permanently. Closures inherit the
enclosing tenv so captured locals keep their types (their own params shadow to
:any). A fn whose var escapes as a VALUE keeps :any params (its callers aren't
all visible). Each fn is then re-inferred with its param types seeded and
re-emitted; recompiled bodies are semantically identical, so correctness holds
regardless of order. Sound under source distribution + whole-program compile
(the consumer compiles all call sites together).
Plumbing: the portable pass (jolt.passes) gained inter-procedural primitives —
set-rtenv!, infer-body (types a body, collects its call sites), reinfer-def
(seeds param types), and escape tracking. The back end stashes each
single-fixed-arity defn's :def IR (:infer-ir); the evaluator triggers
infer-unit! after a unit loads (via an env hook, opt mode only).
Result and honest finding: the fixpoint correctly types scalar-flowing params
(ray-cast/hit-all/hit-sphere all get the ray param as :struct-map, no hint),
but the ray tracer does NOT speed up — its dominant lookups are on `hittable`,
the element of the `hittables` vector threaded through `reduce`, which stays
:any. Typing it needs collection-element types (vector<struct>) plus HOF-element
awareness (knowing reduce applies the closure to elements), which is beyond
inter-procedural param inference. The explicit ^:struct hint reaches it (it
types the reduce closure param directly), which is why the hinted run is 1.22x.
Verified: conformance 335/335 x3, full jpm test; new type-infer-phase1-test
pins the fixpoint, the escape gate, the seeded re-inference, and correctness.
A forward, soft-typing-style pass (simplified HM: monovariant, never-fails,
lattice top = :any) in jolt.passes, run after the inline/scalar-replace
fixpoint when the optimization mode is on. It types expressions from literals
and arithmetic, flows the type through let bindings, and joins at if-branches.
Where a keyword-lookup subject is PROVEN to be a plain struct map it sets
:hint :struct (the same channel a manual hint uses, so the back end drops the
:jolt/type guard); where the type is :any it leaves the dynamic guard in place.
Sound by construction: a concrete type is assigned only when proven (scalar
keys with non-nil/non-false values for a struct-map), so a wrong bare get can't
happen. This is the foundation; on its own it mostly overlaps Route 1
scalar-replacement (which already eliminates non-escaping let-bound maps), so
its standalone win is small. Phase 1 (inter-procedural) is where escaping
params get typed.
Verified: conformance 335/335 x3, full jpm test; new type-infer-test pins the
flow rules and the sound :any fallback (cases force the map to escape so the
test isolates inference from scalar-replacement).
Builds on the ^:struct keyword-lookup hint:
- ^TypeName for records. A tag naming a defrecord/deftype now resolves to the
struct fast path: record instances are tables tagged :jolt/deftype (not
:jolt/type), so a raw keyword get is correct for them. A new host contract fn
record-type? detects a record by its ->Name constructor; a non-record tag
(^String, ^long, ...) is ignored, as before.
- (get m :k) and (get m :k default) now get the same inlined keyword lookup as
(:k m): the representation guard fast path when unhinted, and the bare get
when the subject is ^:struct/^Record. A variable/number/string key still
falls through to core-get. The two call shapes share one emitter
(emit-kw-lookup).
- JOLT_CHECK_HINTS=1 turns a violated hint into a clear runtime error (naming
the local and key) by keeping the guard and throwing on the tagged arm. It is
off by default with zero cost to normal builds (a hinted lookup still emits a
bare get), and is part of the image-cache fingerprint. This is the answer to
"a lying hint is silent": opt into checking during development.
- Docs: RFC 0004 records the design, soundness contract, and measurements; the
reader spec gains S12b (hints are semantically transparent; jolt recognizes
^:struct and ^Record as lookup-optimization assertions).
There is no Clojure keyword equivalent for "plain map / fast keyword access"
(Clojure hints are class names), so ^:struct stays a jolt-specific flag,
analogous to ^:dynamic.
Verified: conformance 335/335 in all three modes and the full jpm test pass; a
seeded ray-tracer render is byte-identical hinted vs unhinted; the struct-hint
test covers record hints, the get-form, inline propagation, and the checked-mode
error. Full render with hints holds at 13.3s -> 10.9s (1.22x).
A constant-keyword lookup (:k m) currently emits a guarded form,
(if (get m :jolt/type) (core-get m k) (get m k)), to tell a plain struct
(raw get is correct) from a phm/sorted/transient (needs core-get). On a
struct that guard is a second get, so the lookup costs ~36ns where a bare
get is ~20ns. Profiling the ray tracer (jolt-dad) showed keyword lookups are
~50% of a render and the guard is the only avoidable part, but dropping it
needs to know statically that the subject is a plain struct.
Type hints are exactly that information, and jolt already parses them and
otherwise ignores them. This wires one through: a local hinted ^:struct
asserts a plain struct/record map, so a (:k local) lookup on it skips the
guard and emits a bare get. The hint rides on the binding symbol into the
analyzer, which records it per-local and attaches it to :local IR nodes; the
back end reads it on the lookup subject. It also propagates through inlining:
when the inliner let-binds a non-trivial arg to a fresh local, it carries the
called fn's param hint onto that local, so lookups inside the spliced body
keep the bare path. This is a programmer assertion, like a Clojure type hint
(an inaccurate hint just makes the raw get return the wrong value, the same
contract as a wrong ^String), so it stays opt-in and off by default.
On the ray tracer (with inlining on) this is 13.3s to 10.9s, 1.22x, taking it
to 7.8x JVM from 9.4x after the inline pass. The unhinted path emits identical
code (the fast arm is just factored out), so nothing changes without hints.
Verified: a seeded full render produces an identical checksum hinted vs
unhinted; conformance 335/335 in all three modes and the full jpm test pass;
new test/integration/struct-hint-test.janet pins the guard removal, the
inline propagation, and that an accurate hint is correctness-preserving.
Adds two IR passes to jolt.passes that run when a unit opts into
direct-linking (JOLT_DIRECT_LINK=1, off by default). The inline pass splices
small direct-linked fns at their call sites, copy-propagating trivial args so
that scalar replacement can then see map literals across the call boundary.
Scalar replacement is AOT escape analysis: a map allocation whose only use is
constant-keyword lookup is dropped and each (:k m) is replaced with the value
at :k, both for a literal lookup subject and for a non-escaping let-bound map.
Inlining and scalar replacement iterate to a capped fixpoint, since inlining
exposes literals that scalar replacement then collapses.
The back end stashes the body IR of each single-fixed-arity defn on its var
cell (inline-stash!), and the portable pass reads it through two new jolt.host
contract fns (inline-enabled?, inline-ir). Inlining is gated on :inline?, which
is off for all of init so core and the self-hosted compiler compile exactly as
before (const-fold only); api/init and main re-read JOLT_DIRECT_LINK so the
flag works both for a freshly built context and for the build-time-baked one in
the shipped binary.
Only inline-safe targets are spliced: a single fixed arity, no recur/loop/fn/
try crossing the boundary, within a size budget, a closed body (no free locals
beyond the params, so a self-recursive fn's name reference can't dangle), and
not ^:redef / ^:dynamic. Bodies are fully alpha-renamed so no spliced name can
collide with a caller local.
On the ray tracer this is 15.3s -> 13.0s (1.18x). The ceiling is honest: that
workload's cost is dominated by lookups on maps that genuinely escape (rays,
hits, materials) and by dynamic dispatch (the reduce closure, the :scatter fn),
which escape analysis cannot remove. On allocation-bound code where the
temporaries are local it is far larger: a vec3 reflect+dot loop goes 9.3s ->
0.38s (25x), with the loop body reduced to pure arithmetic.
Verified: full jpm test passes (inline off, no regression); conformance 335/335
in all three modes and the clojure-test-suite both pass with inline on; new
inline-sra-test pins the transform and its semantics.
jolt-p3c: Clojure evaluates map-literal entries left to right, but the
reader represented map forms as bare janet structs, so entries ran in
hash order. The reader now carries [k v ...] source order out-of-band —
on a struct PROTOTYPE (keys/kvs/length ignore protos, so macros that
get/keys literal map forms see no change; jolt-equal? was already
structural) and as a plain field on the phm rep (nil key/value). The
analyzer (form-map-pairs), the interpreter's map eval, both
syntax-quote walks, and core-sqmap (the lowered `{...} builder — the
array-map case, where Clojure also preserves insertion order) all honor
it, so the order survives macroexpansion in both modes.
jolt-507 root-caused: the parked inline put a LOCAL in janet call-head
position for the first time, and janet resolves head symbols against
the macro table before lexical upvalues — clojure.core/repeat's
self-name local expanded as janet's (repeat n & body) macro, compiling
the self-call into a countdown loop returning nil. Everything in the
issue (interpose, interleave) traced to that one name collision. The
emitter now rebinds local callees to reserved _fp$ symbols (argument
positions never consult the macro table), and the inline — direct
calls for function locals, jolt-call only for IFn-collection
leftovers — lands. Spec rows pin locals named repeat/seq/with called
in head position.
Gate green, suite 4718 steady, bench even with main.
jank's ray tracer benchmark (examples/ray-tracer) drops from 165.6s to
15.8s per render (10.5x) — from 118x JVM Clojure to 11x. The changes
mirror the optimizations in jank's June 2026 post, adapted to the
janet backend (jolt-4vr, jolt-h79):
- (:kw m) emits an inline lookup instead of variadic jolt-call ->
core-get's predicate chain. The guard is (get m :jolt/type): janet
compiles get to an opcode (~17ns) where a struct? cfunction call
costs ~85ns/lookup. :jolt/type is reserved (the reader rejects it in
map literals) and every table rep that must not be raw-indexed
carries it — phm tables now tagged too — so tagged values route to
core-get and everything else gets janet get, which matches core-get
for keyword keys on structs/records/nil/arrays. 929ns -> 90ns.
- {:k v ...} literals with scalar const keys emit let-bound values, an
`and` truthiness test (pure branch opcodes), and a native (struct ...)
call instead of variadic build-map-literal + runtime kv re-scan. nil
or false values fall back to build-map-literal, which keeps Clojure's
nil-entry semantics via the phm rep. 890ns -> 246ns.
- native-op additions: min/max (janet's are variadic with the same
numeric semantics), nil?/some? lowered to janet's fastfun = / not=
against nil, and not.
- clojure.math (Clojure 1.11) installed as a namespace whose vars hold
janet's math natives directly, so calls direct-link. Math/sqrt-style
interop stays in the frozen interpret-only punt set (~5us/call); this
is the compiled route (~30ns).
- reduce over pvec/tuple/array iterates indexed in place — it was
copying the whole pvec into a fresh array on every reduce call — and
stops at `reduced` instead of scanning the tail.
- interpreter coll-lookup gains the sorted-coll arm: (:k (sorted-map ..))
was nil in interpret mode (compiled mode had it right).
map-fastpath-spec pins keyword-invoke/map-literal semantics (16+15
rows incl. nil-value maps, records, sorted, vectors-of-internals) and
clojure.math (10 rows). Two pre-existing bugs found and filed while
writing it: map literals evaluate entries in reader-hash order
(jolt-p3c), and an attempted local-callee call inline that breaks
overlay lazy self-recursion is parked with a repro (jolt-507).
Gate green, conformance 335/335 x3, suite 4718 steady, core bench even
with main back-to-back.
Syntax errors were positionless ('Unterminated list', no idea where).
Now they use Clojure's shape:
Error: Syntax error reading source at (src/app/syn.clj:3:8): Unmatched delimiter: ]
at src/app/top.clj:1
The reader's 15 error sites raise a {:jolt/reader-error :msg :pos}
struct carrying the byte offset (every site already had pos in scope).
The parse entry points convert offset -> line:col on demand and
re-raise the formatted message: parse-string against its own string
(no file), parse-all-positioned against the full source with the
file threaded in from the loaders — rebasing slice-relative offsets
onto the original source so positions stay absolute. No per-token
cost; nothing is tracked until an error actually happens.
Unmatched-delimiter messages match Clojure's 'Unmatched delimiter: )'
wording. cli-test rows assert positions for unterminated string/list,
unmatched delimiter through a require (composing with round 4's
'while loading' chain), and bad ## tokens. Gate green, suite 4718
steady, bench within noise.
A failing top-level form now reports where it lives:
Error: Cannot add 1 and "boom" — + expects numbers
at /path/src/app/broken.clj:3
while loading /path/src/app/mid.clj
while loading /path/src/app/top.clj
The reader has no per-form positions (round 5), but the loaders know
exactly which slice of source each form came from: parse-all-positioned
(reader) counts newlines around parse-next and returns [form line]
pairs; load-ns, load-string and load-ns-source evaluate through a
positioned loop that on error stashes the innermost form's {:file
:line} on the env and appends each file unwound through to a loading
chain. report-error prints both, suppressing the synthetic <eval>
strings the CLI feeds itself (the require/apply one-liners).
load-string takes an optional file arg; run-file passes the script
path so script errors name the script. cli-test rows cover the
3-requires-deep case, script files, and that one-line -e output stays
clean. Gate green, suite 4718 steady, bench within noise.
A typo'd symbol used to auto-intern an unbound var and die later as
'Cannot call nil as a function' with no hint which symbol. Now:
$ jolt -e '(undefined-fn 1)'
Error: Unable to resolve symbol: undefined-fn in this context
The analyzer's :unresolved fallthrough now punts to the interpreter
(whose resolver raises the message above when the form runs) instead of
emitting a var-ref that interned the var. A punt rather than a hard
throw because runtime-interning forms (defmulti's setup) legitimately
reference the var they're about to create from a nested do.
Pulling that thread surfaced three real bugs the leniency was masking:
- h-resolve-global resolved unqualified symbols against ctx-current-ns,
which during analysis is jolt.analyzer — so user-ns vars NEVER
resolved through it; the lenient arm happened to emit the right ns.
Now resolves against the compile ns like the qualified branch.
- Top-level (do ...) wasn't split: Clojure compiles and EVALS each
child in sequence so earlier children's runtime effects (defmulti's
intern) are visible while later children compile. eval-toplevel now
splits.
- The stdlib itself had forward references the auto-intern hid:
10-seq's transducers used vreset!/vswap! from 20-coll (moved to
10-seq); in 20-coll qualified-ident?/realized?/list*/underive
referenced defs declared later in the file (reordered); sorted? and
partition-all are genuinely later-tier and got (declare ...).
Test rows updated where they encoded the old leniency: ir-passes'
dead-branch row (unresolved in a dead branch is an error, as in
Clojure), compile-mode's ctx-isolation row (other ctx now errors
instead of reading nil), cli rows assert the new message. Gate green,
conformance 335/335 x3, suite 4718 steady, bench within noise.
Before: (+ 1 "a") printed 'could not find method :+ for 1 or :r+ for "a"'
followed by three janet frames pointing at jolt internals. After:
Error: Cannot add 1 and "a" — + expects numbers
at app.deep/level3
Round 1 — compiled fns carry their Clojure identity:
- The analyzer's recur target (which doubles as the compiled janet fn's
name) is now ns/fn-name (_r$app.deep/level3--N), so janet stack traces
name the user's fns; defn passes the self-name through to fn.
- eval-toplevel re-raises with propagate instead of protect+error — the
failing fiber's stack was being discarded, which is why every trace began
at eval-toplevel.
- require/maybe-require-ns route loaded namespaces through the loader's
compile-or-interpret eval-toplevel via a ctx hook (the evaluator can't
import the loader). Previously REQUIRED namespaces always ran interpreted:
slower, and their fns were anonymous in traces.
Round 2 — report-error presents for users (rephrase-inspired):
- The full trace text is stashed at the innermost eval-toplevel boundary
(janet's debug/stacktrace walks the fiber propagation chain; debug/stack
cannot), then filtered: _r$ frames demangled to ns/fn-name, jolt-internal
and [eval] frames dropped. JOLT_DEBUG=1 restores the raw janet trace.
- Message rewrites: janet arithmetic dispatch -> 'Cannot add X and Y — +
expects numbers'; compiled arity -> Clojure's 'Wrong number of args (N)
passed to: ns/fn'; nil-call gets an undefined-symbol hint (round 3 will
fix resolution properly).
6 cli-test rows assert the exact user-visible output. Gate green, suite
4718 steady, bench within noise.
Follow-ups for running reitit alongside default-feature libraries in one app:
- __reader-features / __reader-features-set! exposed to Clojure so a namespace
can load a clj-targeted lib (reitit, under :clj) WITHOUT forcing the whole
process to :clj — set features, require, restore. Honeysql/selmer/ring stay
on the default set they were validated under. (jolt vector args coerced to a
janet array — janet map over a pvec iterates keys otherwise.)
- clojure.template added to the stdlib (verbatim, pure Clojure over
clojure.walk) — honeysql's :clj branch requires it.
- java.util.Locale registered as a qualified alias (+ ROOT) for selmer's :clj
Locale/US use.
Everything reitit-core needs to load unmodified from git under :clj features:
- The baked binary now re-reads JOLT_FEATURES at startup (like JOLT_PATH).
reader-features-set! runs at module load = BUILD time for a binary, so a
process opting into :clj (to read a lib's :clj branches) was ignored, and
unmatched #?(...) forms silently spliced to nothing — defn of a fn with an
empty arglist, hence the cryptic index errors.
- (get s i) indexes a string and returns the char, as in Clojure (nth did;
get returned nil). reitit's path parser is (get path i)-based — without
this every route read as static.
- Class-shim registration exposed to Clojure: __register-class-statics! /
__register-class-methods! / __register-class-ctor!, so a library can mirror
a Java class jolt doesn't ship (the reitit.Trie mirror lives in jolt-lang/
router on top of these).
- Java surface reitit's :clj branches call: .getMessage (on exceptions and
strings) and a small universal object-method set, .intern, java.util.HashMap
(a mutable map wrapper). Plus defprotocol already took keyword options.
Gate green; clojure-test-suite 4715 -> 4718 (the get-on-strings fix).
Clojure's defprotocol takes an optional docstring and leading keyword
options (:extend-via-metadata true) before the signatures; jolt's macro
fed the option keyword to (first sig). honeysql declares its InlineValue
protocol exactly that way — with the fix, all four honeysql namespaces
load unmodified from git and the formatter produces correct sqlvecs for
selects/inserts/updates/deletes/joins/:inline. Listed in libraries.md.
A native-executable build bakes the jolt ctx, and env-reading libraries
(config.core/load-env) snapshot the ENTIRE build environment into it — jpm
marshals that into the binary. GitHub push protection caught real API
tokens inside an example's build output this way.
With JOLT_BAKE_ENV_ALLOWLIST set (comma-separated names — a project's
build.sh exports it for the bake), System/getenv serves only the listed
variables: single-name reads of unlisted vars return nil and the full
snapshot is filtered. Unset — every normal runtime — reads stay live and
unfiltered, so a baked binary that re-reads env at startup (config.core/
reload-env) sees the real runtime environment.
Verified A/B on ring-app: a planted token appears in the unscrubbed binary
(strings | grep: 1 hit) and not in the scrubbed one (0), which still serves.
Direct janet.os/environ bridge calls remain unfiltered host access, as
documented.
The vendored spork/http is gone — jpm owns janet packages. In its place:
- The janet.* bridge autoloads jpm-installed modules on first reference:
janet.spork.http/server requires spork/http from the module path and
caches its bindings (failures are negatively cached). Works for any
module, in every mode, including inside net/server connection fibers.
- deps.edn grows a :jpm/module coordinate: jolt-deps verifies the module is
importable at resolve time, optionally running `jpm install` on the
:jpm/install package once when it isn't, and otherwise fails with the
install hint. Contributes no source roots. ring-app declares spork/http
this way.
Docs: README's interop section, docs/tools-deps.md (:jpm/module reference),
and the ring-app README (including the jpm-version caveat for spork HEAD's
.janet native sources, which older jpm rejects).
