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jolt/host/chez/seed
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Yogthos 04180c1e4e backend: cache resolved var cells per reference site (run-path ~5x) 
Profiling jolt-i5if showed <=60-bit arithmetic is already native-fast; the real
general overhead in the run/-e/-m path is var resolution. Every var reference
compiled to (var-deref ns name), which builds + hashes a fresh "ns/name" string
and does a hashtable lookup per access (~45ns). The var cell is interned and
def-var! mutates it in place, so caching the resolved cell is sound under
redefinition.

Generalize the devirt per-site cache-cell mechanism to var value references: a
ref inside a fn resolves its cell once into the def's closure, then reads it via
var-cell-deref (a field read after the first). var-cell-deref is the cell-based
var-deref — binding-aware (dynamic vars + *ns* still resolve) and lenient on an
unbound root (a forward-declared var doesn't throw, unlike jolt-var-get).

Gated by a runtime flag: ON for runtime-compiled code (compile-eval.ss), OFF for
the seed mint and AOT build (emit-image.ss) so the seed stays a byte-fixpoint --
prelude.ss is unchanged, only image.ss picks up the new backend. ~5x on a
var-ref-heavy loop (1058ms->205ms); ~1.2x on test.check (its generators are more
deftype/dispatch-bound than var-deref-bound). No C/FFI.

Corpus rows pin redefinition / dynamic binding / forward ref through a cached
ref. make test + shakesmoke green, selfhost holds, SCI 211/218, certify 0-new.
2026-06-28 12:36:35 -04:00
..
image.ss backend: cache resolved var cells per reference site (run-path ~5x) 2026-06-28 12:36:35 -04:00
prelude.ss backend: emit bitwise ops as native ops (test.check PRNG ~2.4x) 2026-06-28 11:25:52 -04:00
README.md Docs: Chez-only, drop the Janet-era references and obsolete migration notes 2026-06-22 09:05:35 -04:00

README.md

Chez bootstrap seed

These two files are the bootstrap compiler for jolt — the seed that makes the build self-hosting:

  • prelude.ss — the clojure.core prelude (all tiers + clojure.string/walk/ template/edn/set/pprint) as Scheme def-var! forms.
  • image.ss — the compiler image (jolt.ir + jolt.analyzer + jolt.backend-scheme) as Scheme def-var! forms.

Both are generated, not hand-written. They are checked in because a fresh checkout must be able to build jolt-on-Chez using only Chez: host/chez/bootstrap.ss loads this seed, then rebuilds the prelude + image from the .clj/.ss sources via the on-Chez compiler (read → analyze → emit, all on Chez). The seed is a joint byte-fixpoint: rebuilding from an up-to-date seed reproduces it exactly. make selfhost (host/chez/selfcheck.sh) runs host/chez/bootstrap.ss and diffs the rebuilt artifacts against the checked-in seed.

Re-minting

When the seed sources change (the core tiers, the compiler namespaces, the host contract, the reader, emit-image.ss), the seed drifts and make selfhost fails. Re-mint it by running host/chez/bootstrap.ss and writing the freshly rebuilt prelude/image back to host/chez/seed/prelude.ss / host/chez/seed/image.ss, then commit the refreshed files.