cmd/compile: allocate func literal on stack if possible

[tdewolff]

What version of Go are you using (go version)?

$ go version
go version go1.11.1 linux/amd64

Does this issue reproduce with the latest release?

Yes.

What operating system and processor architecture are you using (go env)?

go env Output

$ go env
GOARCH="amd64"
GOBIN=""
GOCACHE="/tmp/go-build"
GOEXE=""
GOFLAGS=""
GOHOSTARCH="amd64"
GOHOSTOS="linux"
GOOS="linux"
GOPATH="/people/tdew803/go"
GOPROXY=""
GORACE=""
GOROOT="/usr/lib/go-1.11"
GOTMPDIR=""
GOTOOLDIR="/usr/lib/go-1.11/pkg/tool/linux_amd64"
GCCGO="gccgo"
CC="gcc"
CXX="g++"
CGO_ENABLED="1"
GOMOD=""
CGO_CFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_CPPFLAGS=""
CGO_CXXFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_FFLAGS="-g -O2"
CGO_LDFLAGS="-g -O2"
PKG_CONFIG="pkg-config"
GOGCCFLAGS="-fPIC -m64 -pthread -fmessage-length=0 -fdebug-prefix-map=/tmp/go-build626602379=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches"

What did you do?

Looking at the following benchmarks, returning a func literal always gets allocated on the heap while a similar approach using a struct can be allocated on the stack. I propose that func literals are also assessed whether they can be put on the stack or on the heap.

package main

import "testing"

func FuncA(x *int) func() {
    return func() { (*x)++ }
}

var A int

func BenchmarkTestA(b *testing.B) {
    for n := 0; n < b.N; n++ {
        f := FuncA(&A)
        f()
    }
}

////////////////

type Increaser struct {
    x *int
}

func (inc Increaser) Increase() {
    (*inc.x)++
}

func FuncB(x *int) Increaser {
    return Increaser{x}
}

var B int

func BenchmarkTestB(b *testing.B) {
    for n := 0; n < b.N; n++ {
        inc := FuncB(&B)
        inc.Increase()
    }
}

giving

$ go test -bench=. -benchmem -gcflags '-m -l'
# test [test]
./run_test.go:6:12: func literal escapes to heap
./run_test.go:6:12: func literal escapes to heap
./run_test.go:5:12: leaking param: x to result ~r1 level=-1
./run_test.go:13:7: Increaser.Increase inc does not escape
./run_test.go:17:12: leaking param: x to result ~r1 level=0
./run_test.go:25:20: &A escapes to heap
./run_test.go:23:21: BenchmarkTestA b does not escape
./run_test.go:30:21: BenchmarkTestB b does not escape
./run_test.go:32:22: BenchmarkTestB &B does not escape
<autogenerated>:1: (*Increaser).Increase .this does not escape
# test
/tmp/go-build496566533/b001/_testmain.go:42:42: testdeps.TestDeps literal escapes to heap
goos: linux
goarch: amd64
pkg: test
BenchmarkTestA-8   	50000000	        26.9 ns/op	      16 B/op	       1 allocs/op
BenchmarkTestB-8   	1000000000	         2.41 ns/op	       0 B/op	       0 allocs/op
PASS
ok  	test	4.041s

When this func literal would be allocated on the stack, we would see a ~10x performance increase.

[randall77]

We do allocate function literals on the stack, if possible.
We can't currently return the address of stack-allocated objects, function literals or otherwise.
That's what is happening in benchmark A, the stack frame that the closure would be allocated on disappears on the return.
Your benchmark B is misleading I think because everything inlines.