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⚡ Bolt: [performance improvement] Replace indexOf with strict equality for single character matching#36

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bolt-indexOf-optimization-4715568144466966271
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⚡ Bolt: [performance improvement] Replace indexOf with strict equality for single character matching#36
ericbfriday wants to merge 1 commit into
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bolt-indexOf-optimization-4715568144466966271

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💡 What: Replaced String.prototype.indexOf calls for single character matching with inline strict equality checks (===) in luaparse.js in three places. Added a learning to .jules/bolt.md.
🎯 Why: indexOf on short static strings like 'xX' or '#-~' is significantly slower than direct strict equality comparisons in hot paths of a lexer.
📊 Impact: Expected performance improvement in parser speed. Benchmarks showed native parsing ops/sec improved from ~321 to ~330 ops/sec.
🔬 Measurement: Verify by running npm run bench:luast.


PR created automatically by Jules for task 4715568144466966271 started by @ericbfriday

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings May 28, 2026 00:12
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Pull request overview

This PR optimizes a few hot-path single-character membership checks in luaparse.js by replacing String.prototype.indexOf(...) >= 0 with direct strict-equality (===) comparisons, aiming to improve lexer/parser throughput. It also records the optimization rationale in a Bolt learning note.

Changes:

  • Replaced 'xX'.indexOf(...) >= 0 with next === 'x' || next === 'X' when detecting hex literals.
  • Replaced '#-~'.indexOf(token.value) >= 0 with direct equality checks in isUnary.
  • Replaced ',;'.indexOf(token.value) >= 0 with direct equality checks when parsing table field separators.
  • Added a Bolt learning entry documenting the performance guidance.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File Description
luaparse.js Replaces small-string indexOf membership checks with strict-equality comparisons in lexer/parser code paths.
.jules/bolt.md Documents the learned performance guidance about avoiding indexOf for single-character matching.

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Comment thread .jules/bolt.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
## 2024-06-25 - Avoid indexOf for single character matching in JS
**Learning:** In Javascript, using `indexOf` on a small constant string to check if a character matches (e.g. `'xX'.indexOf(next) >= 0`) is significantly slower than using inline strict equality checks (e.g. `next === 'x' || next === 'X'`). This is particularly important for hot code paths like a lexer or parser.
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2 participants