Comment by haberman

5 years ago

You really wouldn't. We tried many approaches, including computed goto, but none of them were able to generate satisfactory code when compared with tail calls: https://gcc.gnu.org/pipermail/gcc/2021-April/235891.html

Also, it is not an implicit optimization when "musttail" support is available in the compiler.

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haberman

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slver  5 years ago

Tailcall optimization is compiled as a JMP, so is goto, so I'm curious where would the difference come from?

  • haberman  5 years ago

    The tail call design gives more control over register allocation, and gets the compiler to generate better code by putting fast paths and slow paths in separate functions. I tried to explain this in the article and in my link upthread.