pointer-set

A general-purpose pointer implementation using an automatically expanding set of UintArray blocks, for use in building linked lists and other sorts of data structures.

Some minimal protections are in place if using this module with TypeScript, but it will not prevent you from memory leaks, dangling pointers, and other perils of manual memory management.

Use with caution!

Caveats: When to (and when not to) use this, and why

There is a common misconception that working with integers in a UintArray slab is inherently always going to be faster than working with plain old JavaScript objects.

This is not true! But it contains a grain of truth, depending on your workload, mostly owing to the nature of garbage collection in JavaScript runtimes.

Modern JavaScript VMs optimize the most common behaviors of JavaScript programs. This means, usually, lots of more or less consistently-shaped objects, most of which are created and then discarded relatively quickly, and a handful of which are kept pretty much for the life of the program.

VMs differ, of course, but a common approach is to divide up objects into "young" and "old" generations. Anything that's in the young generation is expected to be discarded, so the GC keeps it handy. Anything that sticks around beyond that threshold, the VM assumes you'll probably never delete it, so it moves it into a longer term storage area, where it's not tracked in the same way.

If you do lose the reference to that old object, though, it needs to be garbage collected, and walking it in the object graph is expensive because it needs to rebuild that information.

So, if you have a cache or something, where you're creating a lot of objects, holding onto them for "a while" and then discarding the oldest ones as more keep coming in, you're basically asking the VM to do the one thing it's worst at. In that case, using manually managed memory in a pre-allocated slab is much better, because there's nothing to garbage collect.

On the other hand, if you're creating objects and looking up their properties very frequently, or if you're always keeping these entries either for a very short time or essentially forever, doing this by yourself with bitwise integer arithmetic is very unlikely to be more optimized than the code paths the VM has to handle object property accesses. Those are going to be more optimized, because the VM is designed specifically for that purpose. And, it's going to be a much extremely inconvenient besides.

Another thing that can be really slow is passing object references from the JS environment to some other environment that is not managed (or separately managed) by the VM. For example, crosing the C++ and JS layers in a Node.js .node addon or passing objects to Workers. In these sorts of cases, the object reference has to be tracked differently, because the garbage collection semantics get more complicated. But, if both sides have a reference to the same block of memory in a Uint32Array, then they can both update it, and they'll see the changes immediately. This is fast, powerful, and dangerous.

You should profile your program with realistic workloads before embarking on a journey of performance optimization. You should also profile your program with realistic workloads after making a change intended to improve performance.

As it happens, the initial use case I had for this module made it seem like a pointer-based solution would be promising. And, since I'd already done something similar for lru-cache, I thought I'd try it. As it happens, it's about 40% slower than just using plain old JavaScript objects, so I'm not sure what this module is even for and won't be using it. But it might be beneficial to someone else, and it was fun to explore, so that's OSS working as intended :)

tl;dr

• Profile before (and after) you optimize.
• Use pointers if your workload involves frequently discarding objects that have made it to the "older" generation of objects. If entries are usually discarded frequently after creation, or rarely discarded at all, JS objects are likely better.
• Use pointers if you need the data to be available to code that doesn't run on the JS VM (ie, a C++ .node binding, WASM, etc.)
• Otherwise, before you try some fancy data structure, maybe just use plain old JS objects and arrays, they're pretty fast actually.

USAGE

Note that the example here and in the examples folder are using very simple data structures, which would almost certainly be more performant to just use plain old JavaScript objects. (See the caveats section above.)

But it's easier to show the API with a simple example than with a complex one.

// hybrid module, either works
import { PointerSet } from 'pointer-set'
// or
const { PointerSet } = require('pointer-set')

// a doubly-linked list, block size of 256 pointers
// this will allocate 1kb per block (4 bytes per pointer)
// and expand in 1kb chunks up to a maximum of 2**24 blocks
// (ie, 2**32 pointers), which should be enough for most cases.
//
// The 'fields' argument should ideally always be an inline array
// of string literals, so that TypeScript can prevent errors
// that may occur from trying to get/set an invalid field.
const fields = ['next', 'prev'] as const
const store = new PointerSet<string, typeof fields, []>(fields, 256)

// typescript generics are all-or-nothing, so we can't do this:
// const store = new PointerSet<string>(fields, 256)
// but we can use a helper class:
import { PointerSetInferFields } from 'pointer-set'
const FieldsInferred = PointerSetInferFields(fields)
const storeInferred = new FieldsInferred<string>()

// to take bigger bytes of data, and do fewer allocations as a
// result, albeit with the downside of consuming more memory:
const store16 = new PointerSet<string, typeof fields, []>(fields, 65536)

// You CAN use blockSize of a number other than 256 or 65536,
// but doing so will limit the total number of items that can
// be stored, since the upper bound is 2**24 blocks for any
// block size <= 256, and 2**16 blocks for any block size between
// 256 and 65536, so these two values both result in a total
// number of items limited to 2**32, and it goes down from there
// This is because the pointer is a Uint32 that stores the
// block id and index in a single bit-shifted value.

// create a pointer and store its value.  Note that the
// first entry is always 1, because 0 is used as a null ref.
const zro = store.alloc('zro')

// alloc another pointer
const one = store.alloc('one')
// set zro's 'next' reference to it
store.ref(zro, 'next', one)
// set one's 'prev' reference back to zro
store.ref(one, 'prev', zro)

// store.ref() returns the ref, so we can do it this way, too
const two = store.ref(one, 'next', store.alloc('two'))
// create the link back from two to one
store.ref(two, 'prev', one)

// alloc() also can take an object of fields and pointers to set
const tre = store.alloc('tre', { prev: two })
store.ref(two, 'next', tre)

// or we can combine those two in one line
const fur = store.ref(tre, 'next', store.alloc('fur', { prev: one }))

// say we want to remove item tre
// Important to free the pointer, so that its space can be
// reused! There is no automatic gc in the pointer store.
store.free(tre)
// set two->fur
store.ref(two, 'next', fur)
// set two<-fur
store.ref(fur, 'prev', two)
// done!

// walk the list
for (let p = zro; p; p = store.ref(p, 'next')) {
  console.log(store.value(p))
}
// walk the list backwards, same thing just different field
for (let p = fur; p; p = store.ref(p, 'prev')) {
  if (p === tre) {
    store.value(p, 'ert')
  }
  console.log(store.value(p))
}

See the scripts in ./examples for more.

PointerSetInferFields(fields: readonly string[], rawFields?: readonly string[]) => class

Because TypeScript generics are all-or-nothing, we cannot do this:

new PointerSet<string>(['field'] as const, blockSize)
//             ^-- Expected 2-3 type arguments, but got 1. (tsserver 2558)

and would instead have to do:

const fields = ['field'] as const
new PointerSet<string, typeof fields, []>(fields, blockSize)

specifying all of the types in the generic, which can get rather verbose.

To work around this, the PointerSetInfer method takes a const array of field names, and a const array of raw field names, and returns a class where those are fixed.

const fields = ['field'] as const
const MyClass = PointerSetInfer(fields)
const store = new MyClass<string>()
// now store's type knows what fields are defined,
// and sets the value type to `string`

The other option, of course, is to leave the value type unspecified as well. Then the field and rawField names can be inferred, but the value will be left as any, so there won't be any type checking of the data passed to store.value(pointer, data) method.

nullPointer: 0 as Pointer

For convenience, a reference to the null pointer is exported. It's just the number 0 cast to the Pointer type.

type Pointer

A pointer is just a number in the unsigned 32 bit range (ie, between 0 and 2**32 - 1). The exported type is branded with a unique symbol.

For safety, all methods that expect to get a Pointer will use this branded type, to prevent you from accentally using a pointer reference that was not provided by this library. However, for cases where you may need to cast to the type, it's exported.

Class PointerSet<T, K extends readonly string[], R extends readonly string[] = []>

This is the class that represents an expanding data store of entries, where each entry is a value of type T, and a set of pointers to other entries for each of the field names in K.

The type T can be anything except undefined. (If you aren't storing JavaScript values, null is a good option.)

For notes on using type inferrence to set K and R types, see the section above regarding the PointerSetInferFields method.

store = new PointerSet<T, K, R>(fieldNames: K, blockSize: number = 256, rawFieldNamess?: R)

Create a new PointerSet to store entries with a value of T, and the internal references named by fieldNames.

Any names in rawFieldNames will be marked as unsafe for pointer dereferencing. They may be used to store arbitrary uint32 values, which is more efficient than filling up a number[], especially if multiple numbers are needed which would require a number[][].

fieldNames and rawFieldNames

When instantiating, fieldNames (and optionally rawFieldNames) should be an inline array of string literals or a string array marked with as const or readonly, so that TypeScript can properly infer the list of types via static analysis.

For example:

// good!
const treeStore = new PointerSet(['prev', 'next', 'children'], 256)
// also good!
const fields = ['prev', 'next', 'children'] as const
const treeStore = new PointerSet(fields, 256)
// another way
const fields: readonly string[] = ['prev', 'next', 'children']
const treeStore = new PointerSet(fields, 256)

// all of these also work with PointerSetInferFields, if you
// want to infer the field names, but leave the value type able
// to be set explicitly.

// using PointerSet as a type
// inline field names
class MyTree<T> {
  store: PointerSet<T, ['prev', 'next', 'children'], []>
  constructor() {
    this.store = new PointerSet<T, ['prev', 'next', 'children'], []>()
  }
}

// `as const` field names
const fields = ['prev', 'next', 'children'] as const
class MyTree<T> {
  store: PointerSet<T, typeof fields, []>
  constructor() {
    this.store = new PointerSet<T, fields>()
  }
}

// `readonly` field names
const fields: readonly string[] = ['prev', 'next', 'children']
class MyTree<T> {
  store: PointerSet<T, typeof fields, []>
  constructor() {
    this.store = new PointerSet<T, fields>()
  }
}

// not as good, doesn't type check or autocomplete field names
const fields = ['prev', 'next', 'children']
const treeStore = new PointerSet(fields, 256)

blockSize

The default blockSize value is 256, and affects the allocation and storage behavior. In general, this module is tuned more for speed than for memory efficiency, so it's wise to take the trade-offs into account.

blockSize can be any number between 1 and 65536, and sets the number of entries that can be stored in a single block.

blockSize Tuning

tl;dr

• Leave the default for a good trade-off between allocation speed, with the caveat that heap expansion allocations can occur at run time more frequently (at every multiple of 256 items).
• Setting a larger value will mean fewer slower allocations.
• 256 and 65536 result in the maximum possible hard capacity limit.
• Setting any smaller value does not cause PointerSet to consume less memory (it'll be either 13 or 14 bytes per entry, regardless), but it does change the manner in which it is consumed.

If set to 256 or smaller, then each pointer will use a single byte for the index within the block, and 3 bytes for the blockId. If set to a number greater than 256 and less than 65535, then 2 bytes will be used for item index, and 2 bytes for block id.

If set to either 256 or 65536, then 2**32 items can be stored, allocating either in blocks of 256 or 65536, respectively. In the first case, up to 16777216 blocks can be allocated, each holding 256 items. In the second, up to 65536 blocks can be allocated, each storing 65536 items. Both result in 2**32 items as an upper bound.

If set to some number other than 256 or 65536, then the total allocation capacity will be limited to less than 2**32, because it'll still use the same number of bytes for item index and block id, so this is something to keep in mind.

An internal freeList stack of free indexes is allocated as well. When the blockSize is 256 or less, the freeList is a Uint8Array of blockSize items. When the blockSize is greater than 256, the freeList is a Uint16Array of blockSize items.

The storage capacity overhead for each block is thus:

blockSize * 4 + fields.length * blockSize * 4 + freeListSize

So, for new PointerSet<T>(['two', 'fields'], 256), that works out to 256 * 4 + 2 * 256 * 4 + 256, or 3328 bytes per block, with a hard capacity limit of 4294967296 items, stored across 16777216 blocks, for a total allocation overhead of 52GiB, averaging 13 bytes allocated per item at this limit.

For new Pointer<T>(['two', 'fields'], 65536), that is 65536 * 4 + 2 * 65536 * 4 + 65536 * 2, or 896kb per block. At full capacity of 65536 blocks, this results in 56GiB, or 14 bytes per item. Each block allocation will take significantly longer, but they will happen 1/256 as often, making it a reasonable trade off in many cases.

If the blockSize is set to 32768, then the block count will still be limited to 65536, but each block will contain 1/2 as many times, for a total capacity limit of 2,147,483,648 items (that is, half as many as with a blockSize of 256 or 65536). In the case of a PointerSet with two fields, each block will be 32768 * 4 + 2 * 32768 * 4 + 32768 * 2 or 448KiB per block. At full capacity, this results in 14GiB of allocation overhead, or 14 bytes per item.

This scheme ensures that all reference lookups between blocks are O(1), because there is never any need to scan the list of blocks. It also prevents excessive garbage collection of JavaScript objects, because there aren't many; each pointer is just a number.

When to use rawFields

If the value that you would be storing can be expressed as one or more unsigned 32-bit integer values, then you can get more efficient and performant storage by specifying them as rawFields rather than setting them in the value type.

This is handy if you want to store a string and some other arbitrary numbers, because managing an array of a large number of small objects can be very slow due to garbage collection overhead.

You should not use this if your value property would otherwise be JavaScript numbers, since those are highly optimized, and a JavaScript array of integers is slightly more performant in many cases than a Uint32Array.

However, if it saves putting objects into the values array (for example, if you are storing an object that is just 3 integers), then it can be worthwhile.

For example:

// a linked list where each entry stores a 3-d point
interface Point {
  x: number
  y: number
  z: number
}
const fields = ['prev', 'next'] as const
const store = new PointerSet<Point, typeof fields, []>(fields)
const p = store.alloc(new Point(1,3,7))
// stores 'prev' and 'next' as internal references,
// and pushes [2, 3] to store.values as a javascript object
const x = store.value(p).x
const y = store.value(p).y
const z = store.value(p).z

Since we know the number is going to be between 0 and 2**32, we can get a better result by doing it this way:

const fields = ['prev', 'next'] as const
const raw = ['x', 'y', 'z'] as const
const store = new PointerSet<null, typeof fields, typeof raw>(
  fields,
  256,
  raw
)
const p = store.alloc(null)
// stores 'prev' and 'next' as internal references,
// stores 'x', 'y', and 'z' in the raw value buffers
const x = store.raw(p, 'x')
const y = store.raw(p, 'y')
const z = store.raw(p, 'z')

Tradeoffs:

• Using raw values increases the allocation size of each block. However, it does not increase overall memory usage in the full block state as much as using almost any JavaScript value type would. It's just pre-allocating rather than allocating it on demand.
• raw values are limited to integers in the range from 0 to 2**32-1, and there is no type checking to prevent overflow.
• raw values avoids JavaScript garbage collection costs incurred by having to track and clean up the entries in the block's values array. This becomes relevant for complex value types; it's rarely beneficial if you would only be storing a single number anyway.

store.size(): number

The total number of entries stored in all blocks in the PointerSet.

store.totalAvailable(): number

The total number of available entry slots in all blocks in the PointerSet. Note that the storage will expand on demand, so this is actually just the number of entries that can be set before another allocation will occur.

store.entryCount(blockId: number): number

The number of entries stored in a given block.

store.available(blockId: number): number

The number of available entry slots in a given block.

store.alloc(value: T, refs?: {[k: string]: Pointer}) => Pointer

Allocate a new memory location, and set the stored value to value. If refs is provided, then each of the fields in refs will be set to the provided pointer value.

store.free(pointer: Pointer) => void

Remove the pointer's value from the store, and mark its memory location as available for reuse.

Note that this does not unset any entries that reference this pointer, or erase any data from any of the pointer fields. It only drops the value and marks the index as available for reuse.

store.erase(pointer: Pointer) => void

Calls store.free(pointer) and also sets all of its field references to null.

Note that this does not unset any entries that reference this pointer.

store.ref(pointer: Pointer, field: string) => Pointer

Get the value of the specified field. If 0 is returned (a null pointer) then the field is unset.

store.ref(pointer: Pointer, field: string, target: Pointer) => Pointer

Set the value of the field on the referenced pointer to the target. Returns the target pointer.

store.refAll(pointer: Pointer }) => refs

Get a JavaScript object containing all references from the pointer provided. Returned object has a key with each of the fieldNames provided, where the value is a Pointer (or the nullPointer if not yet set).

store.refAll(pointer: Pointer, refs: { [k: string]: Pointer }) => refs

Iterate over the keys in refs, calling store.ref(pointer, key, refs[key]).

Returns the refs object provided.

store.value(pointer: Pointer) => T | undefined

Returns the value stored for the supplied pointer, or undefined if no value provided.

Always returns undefined for a null pointer.

store.value(pointer: Pointer, value: T) => T

Set the value store for the pointer to the supplied value. Returns the supplied value.

store.raw(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>): number

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and get the number value between 0 and 2**32 stored at the apporpriate address.

store.raw(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>, val: number): number

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and set the number value between 0 and 2**32 stored at the apporpriate address to the provided value.

store.raw8(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>): Uint8ArrayLength4

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and get an editable 4-byte Uint8Array view of the underlying bytes.

Note that the type is set to prevent accidentally attempting to read or write past the known length.

store.raw8(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>, val: Uint8Array): Uint8ArrayLength4

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and set the bytes to those specified in the supplied 4-byte Uint8Array. Returns an editable 4-byte Uint8Array view of the underlying bytes.

Note that the type is set to prevent accidentally attempting to read or write past the known length.

store.raw16(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>): Uint16ArrayLength2

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and get an editable 2-word Uint16Array view of the underlying bytes.

Note that the type is set to prevent accidentally attempting to read or write past the known length.

store.raw16(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>, val: Uint16Array): Uint16ArrayLength2

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and set the bytes to those specified in the supplied 2-word Uint16Array. Returns an editable 2-word Uint16Array view of the underlying bytes.

Note that the type is set to prevent accidentally attempting to read or write past the known length.

store.raw32(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>): Uint32ArrayLength1

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and get an editable 1-word Uint32Array view of the underlying bytes.

Note that the type is set to prevent accidentally attempting to read or write past the known length.

store.raw32(pointer: Pointer, field: FieldName<R>, val: Uint32Array): Uint32ArrayLength1

Specify one of the names provided in the rawFields list, and set the bytes to those specified in the supplied 1-word Uint32Array. Returns an editable 1-word Uint32Array view of the underlying bytes.

Note that the type is set to prevent accidentally attempting to read or write past the known length.

store.rawAll(pointer: Pointer) => raws

Get all the raw values as a JavaScript object, where the keys are the field names and the values are the numbers stored in the slab.

store.rawAll(pointer: Pointer, raws: { [k: string]: number }) => raws

Set zero or more raw values. Returns the same values object provided.

store.wipeBlock() => void

Erases all entries on a given block.

store.dropEmpty() => void

Drop any empty blocks from the end of the set.

store.drop() => void

Internal Method

Remove a block from the set.

Throws if the block has entries, or if any subsequent blocks exist. When called on the root block, calls store.wipeBlock() instead.