Thanks both. I am right to assume that if the block refers to temp vars, parameters, or whatever in another scope, then such solution won't work. I mean, if I have this example for example:<br><br>| bytes result blah |<br>
blah := 42.<br>bytes := FLSerializer serializeToByteArray: (SortedCollection sortBlock: [:a :b | (a + blah) > b ]).<br><br>Then the 'blah' is in a different context. So the mentioned solution works for "clean" closures, which are "self contained". In the other cases (such as this example), we should serialize the whole stack. Is this correct?<br>
<br>Thanks!<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 7:41 PM, Eliot Miranda <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eliot.miranda@gmail.com">eliot.miranda@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:20 AM, Nicolas Cellier <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nicolas.cellier.aka.nice@gmail.com" target="_blank">nicolas.cellier.aka.nice@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
2011/12/2 Martin Dias <<a href="mailto:tinchodias@gmail.com" target="_blank">tinchodias@gmail.com</a>>:<br>
<div><div></div><div>> Hi folks<br>
><br>
> In Fuel, we serialize a block closure with its state, including its<br>
> outerContext. This enables to serialize a sorted collection with its<br>
> sortBlock:<br>
><br>
> | bytes result |<br>
> bytes := FLSerializer serializeToByteArray: (SortedCollection sortBlock: [:a<br>
> :b | a > b ]).<br>
> result := FLMaterializer materializeFromByteArray: bytes.<br>
> result<br>
> addAll: #(1 2 3);<br>
> yourself.<br>
> ---> a SortedCollection(3 2 1)<br>
><br>
> Here the problem: the byte array is huge! (800kb) because we are serializing<br>
> unneeded context for the sort block.<br>
><br>
> We wonder how to prune it and save time and space.<br>
><br>
> Thanks in advance<br>
> Martín<br>
<br>
</div></div>In the case of such clean block, there is no need of outer context<br>
during block execution.<br>
However I don't know if implementation makes it possible to ignore the<br>
context...<br>
That's more a question directed to Eliot ;)<br></blockquote><div><br></div></div></div><div>Arguably there is a bug in my closure implementation, which is that both the receiver and the method are fetched from the outerContext. That's not a bug which can be fixed without a new VM/image combination and may be something I'll look at long-term, but is something we have to live with at the moment. This means that you *do* have to serialize the outerContext. But the outerContext is used only for the receiver and method. So you don't need to full serialize the outerContext. In particular you don't need to serialize any of the outerContext's stack contents or its sender. This needs special handling, I guess in BlockClosure, to substitute a suitably reduced outerContext, but it shouldn't be hard to do. e.g.</div>
<div><br></div><div>BlockClosure methods for: '*Fuel-serialization'</div><div>outerContextForSerialization</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>^MethodContext</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>sender: nil</div>
<div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>receiver outerContext receiver</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>method: outerContext method</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>args: #()</div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>BlockClosure methods for: '*Fuel-serialization'</div><div>outerContextForSerialization</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>^MethodContext</div>
<div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>sender: nil</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>receiver self receiver</div><div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>method: self method</div>
<div><span style="white-space:pre-wrap"> </span>args: #()</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<font color="#888888"><br>
Nicolas<br>
<br><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
</font></span></font></blockquote></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>best,<div>Eliot</div><br>
</font></span><br><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Mariano<br><a href="http://marianopeck.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://marianopeck.wordpress.com</a><br><br>