Walks the full cmd/compile pipeline in order: package names, data structures, and the SSA construction that drives inlining, escape analysis, bounds-check elimination, and register allocation, with flags to observe each phase directly.
This one took a while, it's probably the longest thing I've written on this blog. I wanted to do a proper end-to-end walkthrough of cmd/compile: real package names, real data structures, diagrams for the AST and SSA CFG, and the flags you actually need (-m, -m=2, GOSSAFUNC, -S) to observe each phase yourself rather than just take my word for it.
Covers the full pipeline: lexer → parser → type checker → IR lowering → SSA construction → optimization passes (inlining, escape analysis, BCE, nil check elimination, register allocation) → architecture-specific code emission.
Hope it's useful — happy to answer questions or push back on anything that looks wrong.
u/OtherwisePush6424 — 13 days ago