feat(tvix/eval): rewrite Thunk::force() in nonrecursive form r/7120

This commit rewrites Thunk::force() so that it is not (directly)
self-recursive.  It maintains a Vec of all the
previously-encountered thunks which point to the one it is currently
forcing, rather than recursively calling itself.

Benefits:

- Short term:

  This commit saves the cost of a round-trip through the generator
  machinery for the generators::request_force() which is removed by
  this commit.

- Medium term:

  Once a similar transformation has been applied to nix_cmp(),
  nix_add(), nix_eq(), and coerce_to_string(), those four functions,
  along with Thunk::force(), will make non-tail calls only to each
  other.  They can then be merged into a single tail-recursive
  function which does not use the generator machinery at all:

    enum Task { Cmp, Add, Eq, CoerceToString, Force};

    fn Value::walk(task:Task, v1:Value, v2:Value) {
      // ...

- Long term:

  The long-term goal here is to use generators **only for builtins**
  and [Marionette]-style remote control of the VM.  In other words:
  use `async` for things that actually involve concurrency.  Calls
  from the VM to builtins can then be blocking calls, because even
  cppnix will overflow the stack if you make a MAX_STACK_DEPTH-deep
  recursive call which passes through a builtin at every stack frame
  (e.g. `{ func = builtins.sort (a: b: ... func ...) ...}`).

  This way the inner "tight loop" of the interpreter doesn't pay the
  costs of `async` and generators.  These costs manifest in terms
  of: performance, complex nonlocal control flow, and language
  impediments (async Rust is a restricted subset of real Rust, and
  is missing things like traits).

[Marionette]: https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/testing/marionette/Intro.html

Change-Id: I6179b8abb2ea0492180fcb347f37595a14665777
Reviewed-on: https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/10039
Reviewed-by: tazjin <tazjin@tvl.su>
Tested-by: BuildkiteCI

0 files changed, 0 insertions, 0 deletions