Figure out the best format to represent strings for names of uniform parameters, blocks, and attributes.

[kvark]

Here are the instances of names that we need to store:

• Uniform parameter
• Uniform block
• Texture name
• Shader attribute
• Mesh attribute

These may need to be accessed at run-time for draw-call execution. Using String type will force the heap allocation (prevents static initialization of, to say, mesh::Attribute) and involve a guaranteed data cache miss on access due to indirection.

One of the possible solutions is to have fixed-size u8 arrays:

pub static MAX_UNIFORM_NAME: uint = 24;
pub type UniformName = [u8, ..MAX_UNIFORM_NAME];

[kvark]

From @csherratt:

bjz, I think your symbol table is actually a great idea.
If every string in the pipeline that is the same always points to the same memory address, we can avoid the cache miss in the case for a string compare. Pointer A == Pointer B, no point in comparing their content.

[kvark]

This is superseded by the current architecture and future implementation of #46. Strings are still stored on the heap, but will be accessed only for new draw calls, and the shortcuts are going to be cached for faster binding.