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docs(web/tvl): rewrite blog post to be more "milestoney"

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Suggested by zimbatm.

Change-Id: I5979cf820943dd44c8a759f226b340c37f9b0446
Reviewed-on: https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/6572
Tested-by: BuildkiteCI
Reviewed-by: eta <tvl@eta.st>
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Vincent Ambo 2022-09-13 18:35:51 +03:00 committed by tazjin
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47
web/tvl/blog/tvix-status-202209.md
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@ -28,24 +28,10 @@ and [sterni][].
### So, what's working now? ### So, what's working now?
The answer is *most things*! However, there are some unfinished and The answer is *most things*! You can enter many Nix language
important feature areas: expressions in [Tvixbolt][] and observe how they are evaluated.
1. The majority of Nix's `builtins` are not yet implemented (including There's a lot of interesting stuff going on under-the-hood, notably:
fundamental ones such as `import` and `derivation`).
2. Recursive attribute sets (`rec`) are not yet implemented. This is
actually not because of the recursion in itself, but because of the
handling of nested keys (such as `a.b`), for which we are designing
a more efficient solution than what is currently in place.
In both cases we have mostly figured out how to do the remaining work
and it is simply a question of time until we've done it. Progress is
steady and can of course be tracked [in the source][src] (viewer
without Javascript [here][src-noscript]).
At the same time, we've already implemented some basics that are
hopefully going to have a huge impact further down, such as:
* The Tvix compiler is built to be able to emit warnings & errors * The Tvix compiler is built to be able to emit warnings & errors
without failing early, as well as retaining as much source without failing early, as well as retaining as much source
@ -66,7 +52,13 @@ hopefully going to have a huge impact further down, such as:
differently based on whether it is empty, a `name/value` pair or a differently based on whether it is empty, a `name/value` pair or a
larger set. larger set.
### How does this all work? We've also (constrained by the available features) run some initial
benchmarks against C++ Nix, and in most cases Tvix evaluation is an
order of magnitude faster. However, these benchmarks are in no way
indicative of real-life performance when evaluating something like
`nixpkgs` yet, so stay tuned for more information on performance.
### How does it all work?
Tvix's evaluator is implemented using a custom abstract machine with a Tvix's evaluator is implemented using a custom abstract machine with a
very Nix-specific instruction set, as well as a compiler that very Nix-specific instruction set, as well as a compiler that
@ -89,8 +81,23 @@ towards).
### What's next for tvix-eval? ### What's next for tvix-eval?
Apart from the missing language features outlined above, the next Despite everything, there are some unfinished and important feature
steps are: areas:
1. The majority of Nix's `builtins` are not yet implemented (including
fundamental ones such as `import` and `derivation`).
2. Recursive attribute sets (`rec`) are not yet implemented. This is
actually not because of the recursion in itself, but because of the
handling of nested keys (such as `a.b`), for which we are designing
a more efficient solution than what is currently in place.
In both cases we have mostly figured out how to do the remaining work
and it is simply a question of time until we've done it. Progress is
steady and can of course be tracked [in the source][src] (viewer
without Javascript [here][src-noscript]).
Apart from that, the next steps are:
* Comprehensive benchmarking. We are standing up an infrastructure for * Comprehensive benchmarking. We are standing up an infrastructure for
continuous benchmarking to measure the impact of changes, and to be continuous benchmarking to measure the impact of changes, and to be