[Vm-dev] Direct object pointers vs indirect ones pros and cons

[Igor Stasenko]

Hi , all

RoarVM using object tables, while Squeak VM using direct pointers for object.

This is a basic element of VM design, and i wonder, how much impact it
does on overall VM speed.

Both variants having own advantages/disadvantages, while i think, that
with good JIT an extra indirection could be
almost insignificant. But having indirect pointers to objects opens
quite sexy perspectives.
Being able to freely choose object(s) location means that:
  - its quite easy to implement object memory paging (swapping between
memory and disc),
  - place particular object(s) into special memory location (good for
FFI, object pinning etc)
  - #become: is O(1), instead of O(heap size)

The downside of indirect pointers is, of course, a higher memory
traffic, which directly impacts all operations everywhere.

What else?
I'd like to know, what you thinking about it, and why Squeak VM, in
particular, using direct object pointers?
What are this choice based on? I'd like to know. Maybe i missing something.

-- 
Best regards,
Igor Stasenko AKA sig.