Does Java JIT cheat when running JDK code?

Question

I was benchmarking some code, and I could not get it to run as fast as with java.math.BigInteger, even when using the exact same algorithm. So I copied java.math.BigInteger

Answer 1

In Java 8 this is indeed an intrinsic method; a slightly modified version of the method:

 private static BigInteger test() {

    Random r = new Random(1);
    BigInteger c = null;
    for (int i = 0; i < 400000; i++) {
        int s1 = 400, s2 = 400;
        BigInteger a = new BigInteger(s1 * 8, r), b = new BigInteger(s2 * 8, r);
        c = a.multiply(b);
    }
    return c;
}

Running this with:

 java -XX:+UnlockDiagnosticVMOptions  
      -XX:+PrintInlining 
      -XX:+PrintIntrinsics 
      -XX:CICompilerCount=2 
      -XX:+PrintCompilation   
       <YourClassName>

This will print lots of lines and one of them will be:

 java.math.BigInteger::multiplyToLen (216 bytes)   (intrinsic)

In Java 9 on the other hand that method seems to not be an intrinsic anymore, but in turn it calls a method that is an intrinsic:

 @HotSpotIntrinsicCandidate
 private static int[] implMultiplyToLen

So running the same code under Java 9 (with the same parameters) will reveal:

java.math.BigInteger::implMultiplyToLen (216 bytes)   (intrinsic)

Underneath it's the same code for the method - just a slightly different naming.

Answer 2

Yes, HotSpot JVM is kind of "cheating", because it has a special version of some BigInteger methods that you won't find in Java code. These methods are called JVM intrinsics.

In particular, BigInteger.multiplyToLen is an instrinsic method in HotSpot. There is a special hand-coded assembly implementation in JVM source base, but only for x86-64 architecture.

You may disable this instrinsic with -XX:-UseMultiplyToLenIntrinsic option to force JVM to use pure Java implementation. In this case the performance will be similar to the performance of your copied code.

P.S. Here is a list of other HotSpot intrinsic methods.