The interpreter's variable lookup is now blazing through arithmetic loops at a 57% faster pace. But this isn't just about raw speed — four tracker items were checked off the list, culminating in a more robust system. All rolled out on submain, a direct result of a thorough four-pillar audit.
BindingId replaces string hashing at runtime
The heavyweight change came from tracker #009. Previously, our interpreter was busy hashing variable names every time they were accessed. That was a repeat offender in wasted cycles. Now, by using a pre-assigned numeric BindingId, we seize efficiency. The semantic phase was already handing out these IDs, but the runtime kept adding the overhead back. It doesn’t anymore.
ScopeFrame.vars has transitioned to a HashMap equipped with a zero-cost identity hasher keyed by u32 binding IDs. Name-based lookups are still around but tucked away for less frequent operations like string interpolation.
Fixes were necessary upstream: ConstDecl and semantic_impls now hold onto their BindingId, making sure our semantic phase pipelines gracefully into the interpreter's primary key system — narrowing the gap with JIT's variable handling.
