[PATCH] D40485: [clangd] Introduced a Context that stores implicit data

[Sam McCall via Phabricator via cfe-commits]

sammccall added a comment.

Thanks for the changes. I don't think `TypedValueMap`/`ContextBuilder` pull their weight, but let's get another opinion on this.



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Comment at: clangd/Context.h:65
+  Context *Parent;
+  TypedValueMap Data;
+};
----------------
ilya-biryukov wrote:
> sammccall wrote:
> > ilya-biryukov wrote:
> > > sammccall wrote:
> > > > We add complexity here (implementation and conceptual) to allow multiple properties to be set at the same level (vs having a key and an AnyStorage and making Context a linked list).
> > > > Is this for performance? I'm not convinced it'll actually be faster for our workloads, or that it matters.
> > > Conceptually, a `Context` is more convenient to use when it stores multiple values. This allows to put a bunch of things and assign meaning to `Context` (i.e., a `Context` for processing a single LSP request, global context). If `Context`s were a linked list, the intermediate `Context`s would be hard to assign the meaning to.
> > > 
> > > That being said, storage strategy for `Context`s is an implementation detail and could be changed anytime. I don't have big preferences here, but I think that storing a linked list of maps has, in general, a better performance than storing a linked list.
> > > And given that it's already there, I'd leave it this way.
> > With the new shared_ptr semantics:
> > 
> >      Context D = move(C).derive(K1, V1).derive(K2, V2);
> > 
> > Is just as meaningful as
> > 
> >     Context D = move(C).derive().add(K1, V1).add(K2, V2);
> > 
> > Yeah, the list of maps in an implementation detail. It's one that comes with a bunch of complexity (`ContextBuilder` and most of `TypedValueMap`). It really doesn't seem to buy us anything (the performance is both uninteresting and seems likely to be worse in this specific case with very few entries). 
> The thing I like about it is that the `Context`s are layered properly in a sense that there's a Context corresponding to the request, a Context corresponding to the forked subrequests, etc.
> If we change the interface, we'll be creating a bunch of temporary Contexts that don't correspond to a nice meaningful abstraction (like request) in my head, even though we don't give those contexts any names.
> 
> I do agree we currently pay with some complexity for that. Though I'd argue it's all hidden from the users of the interface, as building and consuming contexts is still super-easy and you don't need to mention ContextBuilder or TypedValueMap. And the implementation complexity is totally manageable from my point of view, but I am the one who implemented it in the first place, so there's certainly a bias there.
I don't see temporary unnamed `Context`s being any different from temporary unnamed `ContextBuilder`s.

But we've gone around on this point a bit, and this really seems to be a question of taste. @klimek, can we have a third opinion?

The options we're looking at are:
  - `Context` stores a map and a parent pointer. `derive()` returns a `ContextBuilder` used to create new contexts containing 0 or more new KV pairs. `TypedValueMap` stores the payloads.
  - `Context` stores a single KV pair and a parent pointer. `derive(K, V)` is used to create a new context with one new KV pair. A Key-pointer and AnyStorage in `Context` store the payloads, the rest of `TypedValueMap` goes away.


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Comment at: clangd/Context.h:142
+/// Creates a ContextBuilder with a null parent.
+ContextBuilder buildCtx();
+
----------------
ilya-biryukov wrote:
> sammccall wrote:
> > I think we should spell this `emptyCtx().derive()`.
> > It should be pretty rare to derive from the empty context in production code - and conceptually it's no different than any other use of the empty context, I think.
> I'd argue the separate function is more readable and saves us an extra lookup in the empty context for missing keys.
> Given that `emptyCtx` is now `Context::empty`, maybe we should also change `buildCtx`  to `Context::build`?
I think this isn't a path we want to make smooth or obvious - usually what you want is to accept a context, derive from it, and use the result.

Embedders will need to create root contexts - we discussed `LSPServer` offline, and there it seems natural to own a background context and derive from it per handled call.


================
Comment at: clangd/Context.h:92
+  ContextBuilder derive() const &;
+  ContextBuilder derive() const &&;
+
----------------
`&&`, not `const&&` :-)

Maybe add a trailing `//takes ownership`


Repository:
  rCTE Clang Tools Extra

https://reviews.llvm.org/D40485