Re: [PATCH]: Add new bytecode op `switch' for implementing branch tables.

[Vibhav Pant]

On 07-Feb-2017 8:11 PM, "Stefan Monnier" <address@hidden> wrote:

>> Hmm... so goto-if-nil is never used any more?  Aren't there cases where
>> byte-switch results in slower code than goto-if-nil?
> Once linear search for gethash when the number of keys are small is
> implemented, byte-switch should still be faster, as all byte-goto-if-nil
> and byte-goto-if-nil-else-pop bytecode is "replaced" with native linear
> search code.

Does that mean you answered "yes" to the first question?
I thought goto-if-nil is also used in other circumstances.

No. goto-if-nil is still used to compile `if` and other conditional forms. It's also used for cond forms which cannot use byte-switch, like:

(cond ((eq v 1) 'foo)

            ((stringp v) 'bar))

Or forms where some not all clauses use the same test function, since the hash table can only use a single test.