Initialization final and not final static fields in static block

Pavel_K :

Here I found the following code that shows the difference in perfomance for MethodHandles and Reflection:

@Warmup(iterations = 5, time = 1, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS)
@Measurement(iterations = 5, time = 1, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS)
@Fork(3)
@BenchmarkMode(Mode.AverageTime)
@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS)
@State(Scope.Thread)
public class MHOpto {

    private int value = 42;

    private static final Field static_reflective;
    private static final MethodHandle static_unreflect;
    private static final MethodHandle static_mh;

    private static Field reflective;
    private static MethodHandle unreflect;
    private static MethodHandle mh;

    // We would normally use @Setup, but we need to initialize "static final" fields here...
    static {
        try {
            reflective = MHOpto.class.getDeclaredField("value");
            unreflect = MethodHandles.lookup().unreflectGetter(reflective);
            mh = MethodHandles.lookup().findGetter(MHOpto.class, "value", int.class);
            static_reflective = reflective;
            static_unreflect = unreflect; //LINE X!!!
            static_mh = mh;
        } catch (IllegalAccessException | NoSuchFieldException e) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
        }
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int plain() {
        return value;
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int dynamic_reflect() throws InvocationTargetException, IllegalAccessException {
        return (int) reflective.get(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int dynamic_unreflect_invoke() throws Throwable {
        return (int) unreflect.invoke(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int dynamic_unreflect_invokeExact() throws Throwable {
        return (int) unreflect.invokeExact(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int dynamic_mh_invoke() throws Throwable {
        return (int) mh.invoke(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int dynamic_mh_invokeExact() throws Throwable {
        return (int) mh.invokeExact(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int static_reflect() throws InvocationTargetException, IllegalAccessException {
        return (int) static_reflective.get(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int static_unreflect_invoke() throws Throwable {
        return (int) static_unreflect.invoke(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int static_unreflect_invokeExact() throws Throwable {
        return (int) static_unreflect.invokeExact(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int static_mh_invoke() throws Throwable {
        return (int) static_mh.invoke(this);
    }

    @Benchmark
    public int static_mh_invokeExact() throws Throwable {
        return (int) static_mh.invokeExact(this);
    }

}

And these are the results:

Benchmark                             Mode  Cnt  Score   Error  Units
MHOpto.dynamic_mh_invoke              avgt   25  4.393 ± 0.003  ns/op
MHOpto.dynamic_mh_invokeExact         avgt   25  4.394 ± 0.007  ns/op
MHOpto.dynamic_reflect                avgt   25  5.230 ± 0.020  ns/op
MHOpto.dynamic_unreflect_invoke       avgt   25  4.404 ± 0.023  ns/op
MHOpto.dynamic_unreflect_invokeExact  avgt   25  4.397 ± 0.014  ns/op
MHOpto.plain                          avgt   25  1.858 ± 0.002  ns/op
MHOpto.static_mh_invoke               avgt   25  1.862 ± 0.015  ns/op
MHOpto.static_mh_invokeExact          avgt   25  1.859 ± 0.002  ns/op
MHOpto.static_reflect                 avgt   25  4.274 ± 0.011  ns/op
MHOpto.static_unreflect_invoke        avgt   25  1.859 ± 0.002  ns/op
MHOpto.static_unreflect_invokeExact   avgt   25  1.858 ± 0.002  ns/op

What I don't understand is this line of code:

static_unreflect = unreflect;

Is static_unreflect (final) not equal to unreflect (not final)? Then why do they show different results in perfomance? Could anyone explain?

Jorn Vernee :

Only the static final variant of the MethodHandle is seen as a constant by the JIT, see e.g. ciField:

// Is this field a constant?
//
// Clarification: A field is considered constant if:
//   1. The field is both static and final
//   2. The field is not one of the special static/final
//      non-constant fields.  These are java.lang.System.in
//      and java.lang.System.out.  Abomination.
//
// A field is also considered constant if
// - it is marked @Stable and is non-null (or non-zero, if a primitive) or
// - it is trusted or
// - it is the target field of a CallSite object.
//
// See ciField::initialize_from() for more details.
//
// A user should also check the field value (constant_value().is_valid()), since
// constant fields of non-initialized classes don't have values yet.
bool is_constant() const { return _is_constant; }

And only calls through MethodHandles that are constant are inlined, see CallGenerator::for_method_handle_inline Where it does several checks to see that the receiver is constant like:

Node* receiver = kit.argument(0);
if (receiver->Opcode() == Op_ConP) {
  ...
} else {
  print_inlining_failure(C, callee, jvms->depth() - 1, jvms->bci(),
                         "receiver not constant");
}

This difference makes it so that the call to the static final MethodHandle can be inlined, and is therefore roughly as fast as the plain case.

If you print out inlining information you can see this as well. e.g. you could add something like:

@Fork(jvmArgsAppend="-Xlog:inlining*=trace:inlining-%p-static_mh_invokeExact.txt")

To the benchmark methods.

In the static case you will see the call being inlined:

 @ 17   org.sample.MyBenchmark::static_mh_invokeExact (8 bytes)   force inline by CompileCommand
   @ 4   java.lang.invoke.LambdaForm$MH/0x00000008000f0040::invokeExact_MT (23 bytes)   force inline by annotation
     @ 10   java.lang.invoke.Invokers::checkExactType (17 bytes)   force inline by annotation
       @ 1   java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle::type (5 bytes)
     @ 14   java.lang.invoke.Invokers::checkCustomized (23 bytes)   force inline by annotation
       @ 1   java.lang.invoke.MethodHandleImpl::isCompileConstant (2 bytes)
     @ 19   java.lang.invoke.LambdaForm$MH/0x00000008000f0440::getInt (34 bytes)   force inline by annotation
       @ 7   java.lang.invoke.DirectMethodHandle::fieldOffset (9 bytes)   force inline by annotation
       @ 12   java.lang.invoke.DirectMethodHandle::checkBase (5 bytes)   force inline by annotation
         @ 1   java.util.Objects::requireNonNull (14 bytes)
           @ 8   java.lang.NullPointerException::<init> (5 bytes)   don't inline Throwable constructors
       @ 30   jdk.internal.misc.Unsafe::getInt (0 bytes)   intrinsic

We're inlining all the way to the Unsafe::getInt call (but the important part is that we see @ 19 java.lang.invoke.LambdaForm$MH/0x00000008000f0440::getInt instead of the invokeBasic).

In the dynamic case, you'll at most see:

 @ 17   org.sample.MyBenchmark::dynamic_mh_invokeExact (8 bytes)   force inline by CompileCommand
   @ 4   java.lang.invoke.LambdaForm$MH/0x00000008000f0040::invokeExact_MT (23 bytes)   force inline by annotation
     @ 10   java.lang.invoke.Invokers::checkExactType (17 bytes)   force inline by annotation
       @ 1   java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle::type (5 bytes)
       @ 12   java.lang.invoke.Invokers::newWrongMethodTypeException (36 bytes)   callee is too large
     @ 14   java.lang.invoke.Invokers::checkCustomized (23 bytes)   force inline by annotation
       @ 1   java.lang.invoke.MethodHandleImpl::isCompileConstant (2 bytes)
       @ 19   java.lang.invoke.Invokers::maybeCustomize (28 bytes)   don't inline by annotation
     @ 19   java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle::invokeBasic(L)I (0 bytes)   receiver not constant

I.e. in that case there is still an indirect call through the invokeBasic stub, because "receiver not constant".