compiler: optimize string literals and globals

This commit optimizes string literals and globals by setting the
appropriate alignment and using a nil pointer in zero-length strings.

  - Setting the alignment for string values has a surprisingly large
    effect, up to around 2% in binary size. I suspect that LLVM will
    pick some default alignment for larger byte arrays if no alignment
    has been specified and forcing an alignment of 1 will pack all
    strings closer together.
  - Using nil for zero-length strings also has a positive effect, but
    I'm not sure why. Perhaps it makes some optimizations more trivial.
  - Always setting the alignment on globals improves code size slightly,
    probably for the same reasons setting the alignment of string
    literals improves code size. The effect is much smaller, however.

This commit might have an effect on performance, but if it does this
should be tested separately and such a large win in binary size should
definitely not be ignored for small embedded systems.

compiler/compiler.go

@@ -2258,14 +2258,20 @@ func (b *builder) createConst(prefix string, expr *ssa.Const) llvm.Value {
 		} else if typ.Info()&types.IsString != 0 {
 			str := constant.StringVal(expr.Value)
 			strLen := llvm.ConstInt(b.uintptrType, uint64(len(str)), false)
-			objname := prefix + "$string"
-			global := llvm.AddGlobal(b.mod, llvm.ArrayType(b.ctx.Int8Type(), len(str)), objname)
-			global.SetInitializer(b.ctx.ConstString(str, false))
-			global.SetLinkage(llvm.InternalLinkage)
-			global.SetGlobalConstant(true)
-			global.SetUnnamedAddr(true)
-			zero := llvm.ConstInt(b.ctx.Int32Type(), 0, false)
-			strPtr := b.CreateInBoundsGEP(global, []llvm.Value{zero, zero}, "")
+			var strPtr llvm.Value
+			if str != "" {
+				objname := prefix + "$string"
+				global := llvm.AddGlobal(b.mod, llvm.ArrayType(b.ctx.Int8Type(), len(str)), objname)
+				global.SetInitializer(b.ctx.ConstString(str, false))
+				global.SetLinkage(llvm.InternalLinkage)
+				global.SetGlobalConstant(true)
+				global.SetUnnamedAddr(true)
+				global.SetAlignment(1)
+				zero := llvm.ConstInt(b.ctx.Int32Type(), 0, false)
+				strPtr = b.CreateInBoundsGEP(global, []llvm.Value{zero, zero}, "")
+			} else {
+				strPtr = llvm.ConstNull(b.i8ptrType)
+			}
 			strObj := llvm.ConstNamedStruct(b.getLLVMRuntimeType("_string"), []llvm.Value{strPtr, strLen})
 			return strObj
 		} else if typ.Kind() == types.UnsafePointer {

compiler/symbol.go

@@ -355,16 +355,18 @@ func (c *compilerContext) getGlobal(g *ssa.Global) llvm.Value {
 
 		// Set alignment from the //go:align comment.
 		var alignInBits uint32
-		if info.align < 0 || info.align&(info.align-1) != 0 {
+		alignment := c.targetData.ABITypeAlignment(llvmType)
+		if info.align > alignment {
+			alignment = info.align
+		}
+		if alignment <= 0 || alignment&(alignment-1) != 0 {
 			// Check for power-of-two (or 0).
 			// See: https://stackoverflow.com/a/108360
 			c.addError(g.Pos(), "global variable alignment must be a positive power of two")
 		} else {
 			// Set the alignment only when it is a power of two.
-			alignInBits = uint32(info.align) ^ uint32(info.align-1)
-			if info.align > c.targetData.ABITypeAlignment(llvmType) {
-				llvmGlobal.SetAlignment(info.align)
-			}
+			alignInBits = uint32(alignment) ^ uint32(alignment-1)
+			llvmGlobal.SetAlignment(alignment)
 		}
 
 		if c.Debug && !info.extern {

compiler/testdata/string.go

@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 package main
 
+func someString() string {
+	return "foo"
+}
+
+func zeroLengthString() string {
+	return ""
+}
+
 func stringLen(s string) int {
 	return len(s)
 }

compiler/testdata/string.ll

@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ source_filename = "string.go"
 target datalayout = "e-m:e-p:32:32-p270:32:32-p271:32:32-p272:64:64-f64:32:64-f80:32-n8:16:32-S128"
 target triple = "i686--linux"
 
+%runtime._string = type { i8*, i32 }
+
+@"main.someString$string" = internal unnamed_addr constant [3 x i8] c"foo", align 1
+
 declare noalias nonnull i8* @runtime.alloc(i32, i8*, i8*)
 
 define hidden void @main.init(i8* %context, i8* %parentHandle) unnamed_addr {
@@ -10,6 +14,16 @@ entry:
   ret void
 }
 
+define hidden %runtime._string @main.someString(i8* %context, i8* %parentHandle) unnamed_addr {
+entry:
+  ret %runtime._string { i8* getelementptr inbounds ([3 x i8], [3 x i8]* @"main.someString$string", i32 0, i32 0), i32 3 }
+}
+
+define hidden %runtime._string @main.zeroLengthString(i8* %context, i8* %parentHandle) unnamed_addr {
+entry:
+  ret %runtime._string zeroinitializer
+}
+
 define hidden i32 @main.stringLen(i8* %s.data, i32 %s.len, i8* %context, i8* %parentHandle) unnamed_addr {
 entry:
   ret i32 %s.len