# 0125 — any_to_string's array arms materialize every interned array type by value ## Symptom A program that (a) interns any large (~64KB+) array type and (b) uses `{}` formatting anywhere — `print("{}\n", 5)` of a plain int is enough — crashes `sx build` inside libLLVM (`DAGCombiner::visitMERGE_VALUES` → `SelectionDAG::ReplaceAllUsesWith`), and makes `sx run` (-O0) take ~18s to compile a trivial file. The two triggers are independent: the array need never be printed, sliced, or passed anywhere near the format call. - **Observed**: segfault under `sx build`; multi-second compiles under `sx run`. - **Expected**: formatting an int is unaffected by an unrelated large array type; printing the array itself formats in place. Root cause shape: `any_to_string`'s comptime type-switch (library/modules/std/fmt.sx, `case array:` arm) expands one arm per interned array type, and each arm is `array_to_string(cast(type) val)`: 1. the `cast(type) val` unbox loads the WHOLE array from the Any payload pointer (`coerceFromI64`, src/ir/emit_llvm.zig ~2240, `ua.load`), 2. the call passes the array BY VALUE to the `array_to_string` mono, 3. the mono spills its by-value param to an alloca and (since the param is an SSA value, not addressable storage) reads elements via `index_get` on the value — copy-whole-array per element. LLVM's legalizer scalarizes each whole-aggregate op into one SelectionDAG node per element; at ~64K elements the DAG combiner recurses to death (the sibling of issue 0124, which fixed the local-variable shapes: `---` undef store and index reads on addressable storage). ## Reproduction ```sx #import "modules/std.sx"; f :: () { buf : [65536]u8 = ---; buf[0] = 1; out(string.{ ptr = @buf[0], len = 1 }); } main :: () -> i32 { f(); print("{}\n", 5); return 0; } ``` Observed (with 0124's fix in place): `sx build` segfaults in libLLVM; `sx ir` shows the giant arm inside `@any_to_string`: ```llvm %ua.load = load [65536 x i8], ptr %ua.ptr, align 1 %call = call { ptr, i64 } @array_to_string__AR_65536_u8(ptr %0, [65536 x i8] %ua.load) ``` ## Investigation prompt The fix needs the array formatting chain to never materialize the array as a first-class value. The Any payload for an array IS a pointer to its storage (that is what `coerceFromI64` intToPtr+loads), so the arm has everything it needs to format in place. Plausible routes, most contained first: 1. Lower the `case array:` arm to a slice view: box the payload pointer + the array's element count as a `[]elem` and call `slice_to_string` (slices unbox as a 16-byte {ptr,len} — no giant ops). Needs the element type at arm-expansion time — the comptime type-switch already has the concrete array TypeId in hand; an `element_type(T)`-style comptime accessor may need to be added for the sx-level spelling, or the arm can be synthesized in the compiler where both pieces are known. 2. Teach `array_to_string :: (a: $T)` monos (and the unbox `cast`) an indirect ABI for array-typed params — bigger blast radius: touches call emission, param spills, and many `.ir` snapshots. Suspected files: src/ir/lower/comptime.zig / lower/call.zig (the type-switch arm expansion and `cast(type)` lowering), src/ir/emit_llvm.zig `coerceFromI64`, library/modules/std/fmt.sx (`any_to_string`, `array_to_string`). Verification: the repro builds and runs printing `5`; printing the array itself (`print("{}\n", buf)` on a small array) still renders element lists (pinned by 0101/0904 et al.); `zig build test` and `bash tests/run_examples.sh` green; the repro pinned as an example.