LuaJIT
![]() The logo featured on the LuaJIT website. | |
![]() | |
Original author(s) | Mike Pall |
---|---|
Stable release | 2.0.5 (later v2.1.ROLLING is also updated, e.g. in 2023) / May 1, 2017 |
Repository | github |
Written in | C, Lua |
Operating system | Unix-like, MacOS, Windows, iOS, Android, PlayStation |
Platform | x86, X86-64, PowerPC, ARM, MIPS[1] |
Type | Just-in-time compiler |
License | MIT License[2] |
Website | luajit |
LuaJIT is a tracing just-in-time compiler for the Lua programming language. Mike Pall, a primary maintainer of the project had resigned in 2015, resorting only to occasional patching to the future 2.1 version.[3]
History
[edit]The LuaJIT project was started in 2005 by developer Mike Pall, released under the MIT open source license.[4]
The second major release of the compiler, 2.0.0, featured major performance increases.[5]
The latest release, 2.0.5 is released in 2017. However, Mike Pall, the creator and maintainer recommends using the tip of the v2.1 branch, and does not believe in releases.[6]
Notable users
[edit]- CERN, for their Methodical Accelerator Design 'next-generation' software for describing and simulating particle accelerators[7]
- OpenResty, a fork of nginx with Lua scripting[8]
- Neovim, a text editor based on vim that allows the use of Lua for plugins and configuration[9]
- Kong, a web API gateway[10]
- Cloudflare, who use LuaJIT in their web application firewall service[11]
Performance
[edit]LuaJIT is often the fastest Lua runtime.[12] LuaJIT has also been named the fastest implementation of a dynamic programming language.[13][14]
LuaJIT includes a Foreign Function Interface compatible with C data structures. Its use is encouraged for numerical computation.[15]
Tracing
[edit]LuaJIT is a tracing just-in-time compiler. LuaJIT chooses loops and function calls as trace anchors to begin recording possible hot paths. Function calls will require twice as many invocations to begin recording as a loop. Once LuaJIT begins recording, all control flow, including jumps and calls, are inlined to form a linear trace. All executed bytecode instructions are stored and incrementally converted into LuaJIT's static single-assignment intermediate representation. LuaJIT's trace compiler is often capable of inlining and removing dispatches from object orientation, operators, and type modifications.[16]
Internal representation
[edit]LuaJIT uses two types of internal representation. A stack-based bytecode is used for the interpreter, and a static single-assignment form is used for the just-in-time compiler. The interpreter bytecode is frequently patched by the JIT compiler, often to begin executing a compiled trace or to mark a segment of bytecode for causing too many trace aborts.[14]
-- Loop with if-statement local x = 0 for i=1,1e4 do x = x + 11 if i%10 == 0 then -- if-statement x = x + 22 end x = x + 33 end
---- TRACE 1 start Ex.lua:5 ---- TRACE 1 IR 0001 int SLOAD #2 CI 0002 > num SLOAD #1 T 0003 num ADD 0002 +11 0004 int MOD 0001 +10 0005 > int NE 0004 +0 0006 + num ADD 0003 +33 0007 + int ADD 0001 +1 0008 > int LE 0007 +10000 0009 ------ LOOP ------------ 0010 num ADD 0006 +11 0011 int MOD 0007 +10 0012 > int NE 0011 +0 0013 + num ADD 0010 +33 0014 + int ADD 0007 +1 0015 > int LE 0014 +10000 0016 int PHI 0007 0014 0017 num PHI 0006 0013 ---- TRACE 1 stop -> loop ---- TRACE 2 start 1/4 Ex.lua:8 ---- TRACE 2 IR 0001 num SLOAD #1 PI 0002 int SLOAD #2 PI 0003 num ADD 0001 +22 0004 num ADD 0003 +33 0005 int ADD 0002 +1 0006 > int LE 0005 +10000 0007 num CONV 0005 num.int ---- TRACE 2 stop -> 1
Extensions
[edit]LuaJIT adds several extensions to its base implementation, Lua 5.1, most of which do not break compatibility.[17]
- "BitOp" for binary operations on unsigned 32-bit integers (these operations are also compiled by the just-in-time compiler)[18]
- "CoCo", which allows the VM to be fully resumable across all contexts[19]
- A foreign function interface[20]
- Portable bytecode (regardless of architecture, word size, or endianness, not version)[21]
DynASM
[edit]Developer(s) | Mike Pall |
---|---|
Repository | |
Written in | Lua, C[22] |
Platform | x86, X86-64, PowerPC, ARM, MIPS |
Type | Preprocessor, Linker |
License | MIT License[2] |
Website | luajit |
DynASM is a lightweight preprocessor for C that provides its own flavor of inline assembler, independent of the C compiler. DynASM replaces assembly code in C files with runtime writes to a 'code buffer', such that a developer may generate and then evoke code at runtime from a C program. It was created for LuaJIT 1.0.0 to make developing the just-in-time compiler easier.[citation needed]
DynASM includes a bare-bones C header file which is used at compile time for logic the preprocessor generates. The actual preprocessor is written in Lua.
References
[edit]- ^ "LuaJIT". LuaJIT. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ a b "LuaJIT/COPYRIGHT at v2.1 · LuaJIT/LuaJIT". GitHub. 7 January 2022.
- ^ "[ANN] Looking for new LuaJIT maintainers - luajit - FreeLists". www.freelists.org. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "The LuaJIT Project". luajit.org. Retrieved 2023-06-17.
- ^ Pall, Mike. "Re: [ANN] llvm-lua 1.0". lua-users.org. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "Project status - Issue #665 - LuaJIT/LuaJIT". GitHub. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ Deniau, Laurent. "Lua(Jit) for computing accelerator beam physics". CERN Document Server. CERN. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "OpenResty® - Official Site". openresty.org.
- ^ "Lua - Neovim docs". neovim.io. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
- ^ "Kong/kong". GitHub. Kong. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "Helping to make Luajit faster". blog.cloudflare.com. 19 October 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "LuaJIT Performance".
- ^ "Laurence Tratt: The Impact of Meta-Tracing on VM Design and Implementation". tratt.net. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ a b d'Andrea, Laurent (2019). Behavioural Analysis of Tracing JIT Compiler Embedded in the Methodical Accelerator Design Software (Thesis). CERN. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
- ^ Pall, Mike. "Tuning numerical computations for LuaJIT (was Re: [ANN] Sci-1.0-beta1) - luajit - FreeLists". www.freelists.org.
- ^ Rottenkolber, Max. "Later Binding: Just-in-Time Compilation of a Younger Dynamic Programming Language." ELS. 2020
- ^ "Extensions". LuaJIT. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "BitOp Semantics". LuaJIT. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "Coco - True C Coroutines". LuaJIT. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "FFI Library". LuaJIT. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- ^ "Extensions". luajit.org. Retrieved 2022-08-25.
- ^ "DynASM Features". DynASM. Retrieved 25 February 2022.