[Vm-dev] Why the recycle context is search twice

[Mathieu Suen]

Hi,

When you look at the #internalActivateNewMethod you can see the VM  
checking for freeContexts:

internalActivateNewMethod
	

	…
	(needsLarge = 0 and: [freeContexts ~= NilContext])
		ifTrue: [newContext := freeContexts.
				freeContexts := self fetchPointer: 0 ofObject: newContext]
		ifFalse: ["Slower call for large contexts or empty free list"
				self externalizeIPandSP.
				newContext := self allocateOrRecycleContext: needsLarge.
				self internalizeIPandSP].
	…

Then in the #allocateOrRecycleContext you can see another check:

allocateOrRecycleContext: needsLarge
	"Return a recycled context or a newly allocated one if none is  
available for recycling."
	| cntxt |
	needsLarge = 0
	ifTrue: [freeContexts ~= NilContext ifTrue:
				[cntxt := freeContexts.
				freeContexts := self fetchPointer: 0 ofObject: cntxt.
				^ cntxt]]	
	…

	…
	needsLarge = 0
		ifTrue: [cntxt := self instantiateContext: (self splObj:  
ClassMethodContext)
				sizeInBytes: SmallContextSize]
	…


So why there is so many check for nothings. The best would be to have  
the #allocateOrRecycleLargeContext: method?



	Mth