Can you blog about Slice?

[omariom]

They say "The implementation of Slice is derived from https://github.com/joeduffy/slice.net".

Is it a pure library approach or going to be intrinsicfied by CoreCLR?

p.s.
Glad you are blogging again 👍

[joeduffy]

Happy to blog a little about this, including its history in Midori, and the recent work we've done in C++ on array_view and related friends. We're still working out whether Slice will be a runtime feature, purely done as a library, and, related, what syntax to surface in the language. But I can discuss some of the options and considerations behind them. Love the feedback, thanks!

[terrajobst]

@omariom we're actively working on implementing a prototype of Slice in .NET Core. You can see prototypes here:

https://github.com/dotnet/corefxlab/tree/master/src/System.Slices

[omariom]

@terrajobst
Yes, this is where I accidentally found it.
Slices and Channels are such interesting projects and are almost invisible!
Though a tweet 📢📢📢 would be enough..

[omariom]

@joeduffy
Though generated code of Slice's indexer is fairly good (tried it in .NET4.5.2), some optimization opportunities (compared to arrays) are missed. For example, for array accesses by the same index JIT generates bounds checking only ones, pointer calcs can also be reused.
Another important consideration is ref locals and returns planned for future C#. Slice API should be prepared for the change in advance.
With these two things Slices would really shine.

[omariom]

We're still working out whether Slice will be a runtime feature, purely done as a library, and, related, what syntax to surface in the language.

Has it been already decided? Because I have an idea on improving not_runtime impl.

[joeduffy]

Not decided yet.

@KrzysztofCwalina and @jaredpar are actively exploring, however.

I'm sure they'd love to hear your thoughts.