Copy-and-Patch Compilation: A Practical Tutorial for Building Baseline JIT Compilers
By
todsacerdoti
Plain bagel done well. Pleasantly substantive.
Summary
This article provides a tutorial on Copy-and-Patch compilation, a method for building baseline JIT (Just-In-Time) compilers that enables fast runtime compilation of code fragments. The approach requires minimal assembly code knowledge, is easy to maintain, and produces native code quality comparable to traditional hand-written baseline JITs. The key advantage is that it allows developers to create JIT compilers using basic copy-and-paste operations rather than deep assembly expertise.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledCopy-and-patch Compilation is a fascinating way of constructing a baseline JIT.
It permits incredibly fast runtime compilation of code fragments in a very easy to maintain fashion.
requires barely any actual understanding of assembly code
produces native code of sufficient quality to be within the same range as traditional, hand-written baseline JITs.
If you can ctrl-c and ctrl-v, you can build a JIT.
You might also wanna read
Optimizing a Simple AST-Walking Interpreter for Competitive Performance
This article details the process of optimizing a simple AST-walking interpreter for a dynamic programming language called Zef, created as a
Developing a Fuzzer for the Toy Optimizer to Detect Compiler Optimization Bugs
The article discusses creating a fuzzer for the Toy Optimizer compiler project to automatically detect correctness bugs in optimization pass
bernsteinbear.com·2mo agoDeveloper's Experience with Compact Compiler Development: Writing C Subset in 1500 Lines
The article discusses the author's experience with compiler development, challenging the conventional wisdom that compilers must be enormous
Practical Patterns for Programmatic C Code Generation
The article provides practical advice and patterns for generating C code programmatically rather than writing it manually. The author, a com
Understanding Rust's GCC Backend: Architecture and Implementation
This article explains how the Rust programming language compiler can use different backends to generate binary code, with a focus on the GCC
blog.guillaume-gomez.fr·5mo ago
Swift Compiler Type Checker Improvement Roadmap
This article presents a roadmap for improving the type checker in the Swift programming language compiler. It discusses planned technical im
forums.swift.org·7mo ago