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Expand THIR section with more details (rust-lang#1183)
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* Expand THIR section with more details
* Remove incorrect reference to `HirId`s

Co-authored-by: Léo Lanteri Thauvin <leseulartichaut@gmail.com>
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syvb and LeSeulArtichaut authored Aug 21, 2021
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The THIR ("Typed High-Level Intermediate Representation"), previously called HAIR for
"High-Level Abstract IR", is another IR used by rustc that is generated after
[type checking]. It is (as of <!-- date: 2021-03 --> March 2021) only used for
[MIR construction] and [exhaustiveness checking], but
[it may also soon be used for unsafety checking][thir-unsafeck] as a replacement
for the current MIR unsafety checker.
[type checking]. It is (as of <!-- date: 2021-08 --> August 2021) only used for
[MIR construction] and [exhaustiveness checking]. There is also
[an experimental unsafety checker][thir-unsafeck] that operates on the THIR as a replacement for
the current MIR unsafety checker, and can be used instead of the MIR unsafety checker by passing
the `-Z thir-unsafeck` flag to `rustc`.

[type checking]: ./type-checking.md
[MIR construction]: ./mir/construction.md
Expand All @@ -19,8 +20,8 @@ the types have been filled in, which is possible after type checking has complet
But it has some other interesting features that distinguish it from the HIR:

- Like the MIR, the THIR only represents bodies, i.e. "executable code"; this includes
function bodies, but also `const` initializers, for example. Consequently, the THIR
has no representation for items like `struct`s or `trait`s.
function bodies, but also `const` initializers, for example. Specifically, all [body owners] have
THIR created. Consequently, the THIR has no representation for items like `struct`s or `trait`s.

- Each body of THIR is only stored temporarily and is dropped as soon as it's no longer
needed, as opposed to being stored until the end of the compilation process (which
Expand All @@ -31,7 +32,13 @@ But it has some other interesting features that distinguish it from the HIR:
are made explicit, and method calls and overloaded operators are converted into
plain function calls. Destruction scopes are also made explicit.

- Statements, expressions, and match arms are stored separately. For example, statements in the
`stmts` array reference expressions by their index (represented as a [`ExprId`]) in the `exprs`
array.

[HIR]: ./hir.md
[`ExprId`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/thir/struct.ExprId.html
[body owners]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_hir/enum.BodyOwnerKind.html

The THIR lives in [`rustc_mir_build::thir`][thir-docs]. To construct a [`thir::Expr`],
you can use the [`thir_body`] function, passing in the memory arena where the THIR
Expand All @@ -40,7 +47,176 @@ which is useful to keep peak memory in check. Having a THIR representation of
all bodies of a crate in memory at the same time would be very heavy.

You can get a debug representation of the THIR by passing the `-Zunpretty=thir-tree` flag
to `rustc`.
to `rustc`. Here is how a function with just the statement `let x = 1 + 2;` gets represented in
THIR:
```rust
Thir {
// no match arms
arms: [],
exprs: [
// expression 0, a literal with a value of 1
Expr {
ty: i32,
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(6)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:13: 2:14 (#0),
kind: Literal {
literal: Const {
ty: i32,
val: Value(Scalar(0x00000001)),
},
user_ty: None,
const_id: None,
},
},
// expression 1, scope surronding literal 1
Expr {
ty: i32,
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(6)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:13: 2:14 (#0),
kind: Scope {
region_scope: Node(1),
lint_level: Explicit(HirId {
owner: DefId(0:3 ~ oneplustwo[6ccc]::main),
local_id: 1,
}),
// reference to expression 0 above
value: e0,
},
},
// expression 2, literal 2
Expr {
ty: i32,
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(6)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:17: 2:18 (#0),
kind: Literal {
literal: Const {
ty: i32,
val: Value(Scalar(0x00000002)),
},
user_ty: None,
const_id: None,
},
},
// expression 3, scope surrounding literal 2
Expr {
ty: i32,
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(6)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:17: 2:18 (#0),
kind: Scope {
region_scope: Node(2),
lint_level: Explicit(HirId {
owner: DefId(0:3 ~ oneplustwo[6ccc]::main),
local_id: 2,
}),
// reference to expression 2 above
value: e2,
},
},
// expression 4, represents 1 + 2
Expr {
ty: i32,
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(6)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:13: 2:18 (#0),
kind: Binary {
op: Add,
// references to scopes surronding literals above
lhs: e1,
rhs: e3,
},
},
// expression 5, scope surronding expression 4
Expr {
ty: i32,
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(6)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:13: 2:18 (#0),
kind: Scope {
region_scope: Node(3),
lint_level: Explicit(HirId {
owner: DefId(0:3 ~ oneplustwo[6ccc]::main),
local_id: 3,
}),
value: e4,
},
},
// expression 6, block around statement
Expr {
ty: (),
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(8)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:1:11: 3:2 (#0),
kind: Block {
body: Block {
targeted_by_break: false,
region_scope: Node(7),
opt_destruction_scope: None,
span: oneplustwo.rs:1:11: 3:2 (#0),
// reference to statement 0 below
stmts: [ s0 ],
expr: None,
safety_mode: Safe,
},
},
},
// expression 7, scope around block in expression 6
Expr {
ty: (),
temp_lifetime: Some(
Node(8),
),
span: oneplustwo.rs:1:11: 3:2 (#0),
kind: Scope {
region_scope: Node(8),
lint_level: Explicit(HirId {
owner: DefId(0:3 ~ oneplustwo[6ccc]::main),
local_id: 8,
}),
value: e6,
},
},
// destruction scope around expression 7
Expr {
ty: (),
temp_lifetime: Some(Node(8)),
span: oneplustwo.rs:1:11: 3:2 (#0),
kind: Scope {
region_scope: Destruction(8),
lint_level: Inherited,
value: e7,
},
},
],
stmts: [
// let statement
Stmt {
kind: Let {
remainder_scope: Remainder { block: 7, first_statement_index: 0},
init_scope: Node(6),
pattern: Pat {
ty: i32,
span: oneplustwo.rs:2:9: 2:10 (#0),
kind: Binding {
mutability: Not,
name: "x",
mode: ByValue,
var: HirId {
owner: DefId(0:3 ~ oneplustwo[6ccc]::main),
local_id: 5,
},
ty: i32,
subpattern: None,
is_primary: true,
},
},
initializer: Some(e5),
lint_level: Explicit(HirId {
owner: DefId(0:3 ~ oneplustwo[6ccc]::main),
local_id: 4,
}),
},
opt_destruction_scope: Some(Destruction(6)),
},
],
}
```

[thir-docs]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_mir_build/thir/index.html
[`thir::Expr`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/thir/struct.Expr.html
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