Use @TruffleBoundary instead of transferToInterpreter()

[JaroslavTulach]

Pull Request Description

Attempt to fix #12374 by using @TruffleBoundary instead of CompilerDirectives.transferToInterpreter().

Checklist

Please ensure that the following checklist has been satisfied before submitting the PR:

• All code follows the
  Java,
• stdlib benchmark run shows an improvement

[JaroslavTulach]

Looks like the issue got fixed:

many Column_Numeric benchmarks are back where they were before #12295

@Akirathan (and @steve-s), you are right! Never use transferToInterpreter()!

[Akirathan]

@Akirathan (and @steve-s), you are right! Never use transferToInterpreter()!

When I was working on https://github.com/oracle/fastr with @steve-s, the rule of a thumb was: "If you ever feel like using transferToInterpreter, don't. And use transferToInterpreterAndInvalidate instead". I wish I would remember the reasoning. @steve-s, once you have some time, we would love to hear a brief explanation.

GitHub

GitHub - oracle/fastr: A high-performance implementation of the R programming language, built on GraalVM.

A high-performance implementation of the R programming language, built on GraalVM. - oracle/fastr

[steve-s]

My understanding is that transferToInterpreter() is like a deopt. It must reconstruct the state (pull values from registers, etc.) so that the method can continue running in the interpreter. @TruffleBoundary is regular call with the drawbacks of calls: kills compiler assumptions, caller needs to save registers, etc.

[JaroslavTulach]

My understanding is that transferToInterpreter() is like a deopt. It must reconstruct the state (pull values from registers, etc.) so that the method can continue running in the interpreter.

E.g. it really transfers to JVM interpreter. The name is clear, but for some reason I started to use it in situations when I just wanted to escape PE - and that is wrong.

@TruffleBoundary is regular call with the drawbacks of calls: kills compiler assumptions, caller needs to save registers, etc.

To escape PE - @TruffleBoundary is (the only) way to go. We'll review our transferInterpreter usages and (probably) replace them with @TruffleBoundary method call.

Thank you, Štěpáne.