Inside Ruby's VM: The TMI Edition.
summary
Clear, specific roadmap: MRI bytecode is generated via rb_compile_string into an AST then a linked list and finally an integer array; peephole and specialized instructions reduce sends; the VM uses direct-threaded execution for faster dispatch. A failed but informative attempt at an ahead‑of‑time compiler shows the practical snag: VALUE pointers are heap addresses so serialized iseq blobs must embed objects, not raw pointers. Big code pointers: iseq_compile_each (2,300+ lines) and insns.def are where the action is.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Intro
- 3:16Rubicon 5K
- 6:03Failure
- 9:21Lexer
- 11:12What is a VM
- 16:08How to get VM code
- 17:52What is a linked list
- 24:25Why use a doubly linked list
- 28:19Code runs phase
- 29:06What is a bytecode
- 32:06Different types of VM
- 33:49Direct threaded interpretation
- 34:30Heapallocated objects
- 36:10Practical applications
- 37:37Conclusion
