Closed over variables are now passed on the stack, instead of creating a
tuple and passing that. This way memory for the closed over variables
can be allocated within the closure object itself. See issue #510 for
background.
Attempt to address issue #386. unique_code_id's have been removed and
replaced with a pointer to the "raw code" information. This pointer is
stored in the actual byte code (aligned, so the GC can trace it), so
that raw code (ie byte code, native code and inline assembler) is kept
only for as long as it is needed. In memory it's now like a tree: the
outer module's byte code points directly to its children's raw code. So
when the outer code gets freed, if there are no remaining functions that
need the raw code, then the children's code gets freed as well.
This is pretty much like CPython does it, except that CPython stores
indexes in the byte code rather than machine pointers. These indices
index the per-function constant table in order to find the relevant
code.
Partly (very partly!) addresses issue #386. Most importantly, at the
REPL command line, each invocation does not now lead to increased memory
usage (unless you define a function/lambda).
Damien George