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[BridgeJS] Pass String parameters unretained by default

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
28/100
Issue type
Refactor
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
javascript, swift, wasm

Research direction

Start by tracing _swift_js_make_js_string, bridgeJSLowerParameter, and the generated bjs_hello thunk shown in the issue, then inspect how JSString references are represented. Done means ordinary String parameters cross the bridge without a JS memory-store retain/release cycle while JSString still supports caller-controlled by-reference reuse; verify the impact against the ElementaryUI performance benchmarks.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

When calling a JS function through BridgeJS with String parameters, every String is

  • lowered by calling _swift_js_make_js_string
  • which decodes and retains in JS object store (new entry, new ref = 1)
  • the object store ref is passed as wasm parameter
  • the JS thunk immediately get the object and releases (count--, remove from store)

this is very wasteful, and makes retain the number one bottleneck in current ElementaryUI performance benchmarks.

Example:

@JSFunction func hello(_ v: String) throws

// generates
func _$hello(_ v: String) throws(JSException) -> Void {
    let vValue = v.bridgeJSLowerParameter()
    bjs_hello(vValue)
    if let error = _swift_js_take_exception() {
        throw error
    }
}
function bjs_hello(v) {
    try {
        const vObject = swift.memory.getObject(v);
        swift.memory.release(v);
        imports.hello(vObject);
    } catch (error) {
        setException(error);
    }
}

I suggest:

  • passing String always "in-line" (ie: as address + length) without retaining in the JS memory store
  • still support JSString by-ref to control Swift caller caching (ie: retain once and use same ref multiple times)
Dominant language
Swift
Stars
986
Forks
76
Avg merge
21h 11m
Merged PRs (30d)
4

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