Unnecessary sign-extension for some never-negative expressions

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Description

nint M1(uint mask) {
    return BitOperations.TrailingZeroCount(mask) / sizeof(ushort);
}

nint M2(uint mask) {
    return (nint)(uint.TrailingZeroCount(mask) / sizeof(ushort));
}

C:M1(uint):nint:this (FullOpts):
       xor      eax, eax
       tzcnt    eax, esi
       shr      eax, 1
       cdqe     
       ret      

C:M2(uint):nint:this (FullOpts):
       xor      eax, eax
       tzcnt    eax, esi
       shr      eax, 1
       ret    

Contributor guide

Research direction

Investigate why the sign extension (cdqe instruction) is emitted after the division for M1 but not for M2, and how to eliminate it for cases where the result is never negative.

Tech stack

csharp

Domain

performance

Issue type

Bug

DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.

2

Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.

1-3 hours

Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.

Active

ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.

Clear

Prerequisites

C#Git

Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.

75