encoding/binary: skip blank fields when (en/de)coding structs

- minor unrelated cleanups
- performance impact in the noise

benchmark                       old ns/op    new ns/op    delta
BenchmarkReadSlice1000Int32s        83462        83346   -0.14%
BenchmarkReadStruct                  4141         4247   +2.56%
BenchmarkReadInts                    1588         1586   -0.13%
BenchmarkWriteInts                   1550         1489   -3.94%
BenchmarkPutUvarint32                  39           39   +1.02%
BenchmarkPutUvarint64                 142          144   +1.41%

benchmark                        old MB/s     new MB/s  speedup
BenchmarkReadSlice1000Int32s        47.93        47.99    1.00x
BenchmarkReadStruct                 16.90        16.48    0.98x
BenchmarkReadInts                   18.89        18.91    1.00x
BenchmarkWriteInts                  19.35        20.15    1.04x
BenchmarkPutUvarint32              101.90       100.82    0.99x
BenchmarkPutUvarint64               56.11        55.45    0.99x

Fixes #4185.

R=r, rsc
CC=golang-dev
https://golang.org/cl/6750053

src/pkg/encoding/binary/binary.go

@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ func (bigEndian) GoString() string { return "binary.BigEndian" }
 // of fixed-size values.
 // Bytes read from r are decoded using the specified byte order
 // and written to successive fields of the data.
+// When reading into structs, the field data for fields with
+// blank (_) field names is skipped; i.e., blank field names
+// may be used for padding.
 func Read(r io.Reader, order ByteOrder, data interface{}) error {
 	// Fast path for basic types.
 	if n := intDestSize(data); n != 0 {
@@ -154,7 +157,7 @@ func Read(r io.Reader, order ByteOrder, data interface{}) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	// Fallback to reflect-based.
+	// Fallback to reflect-based decoding.
 	var v reflect.Value
 	switch d := reflect.ValueOf(data); d.Kind() {
 	case reflect.Ptr:
@@ -181,6 +184,8 @@ func Read(r io.Reader, order ByteOrder, data interface{}) error {
 // values, or a pointer to such data.
 // Bytes written to w are encoded using the specified byte order
 // and read from successive fields of the data.
+// When writing structs, zero values are are written for fields
+// with blank (_) field names.
 func Write(w io.Writer, order ByteOrder, data interface{}) error {
 	// Fast path for basic types.
 	var b [8]byte
@@ -239,6 +244,8 @@ func Write(w io.Writer, order ByteOrder, data interface{}) error {
 		_, err := w.Write(bs)
 		return err
 	}
+
+	// Fallback to reflect-based encoding.
 	v := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(data))
 	size := dataSize(v)
 	if size < 0 {
@@ -300,15 +307,13 @@ func sizeof(t reflect.Type) int {
 	return -1
 }
 
-type decoder struct {
+type coder struct {
 	order ByteOrder
 	buf   []byte
 }
 
-type encoder struct {
+type decoder coder
-	order ByteOrder
+type encoder coder
-	buf   []byte
-}
 
 func (d *decoder) uint8() uint8 {
 	x := d.buf[0]
@@ -379,9 +384,19 @@ func (d *decoder) value(v reflect.Value) {
 		}
 
 	case reflect.Struct:
+		t := v.Type()
 		l := v.NumField()
 		for i := 0; i < l; i++ {
-			d.value(v.Field(i))
+			// Note: Calling v.CanSet() below is an optimization.
+			// It would be sufficient to check the field name,
+			// but creating the StructField info for each field is
+			// costly (run "go test -bench=ReadStruct" and compare
+			// results when making changes to this code).
+			if v := v.Field(i); v.CanSet() || t.Field(i).Name != "_" {
+				d.value(v)
+			} else {
+				d.skip(v)
+			}
 		}
 
 	case reflect.Slice:
@@ -435,9 +450,15 @@ func (e *encoder) value(v reflect.Value) {
 		}
 
 	case reflect.Struct:
+		t := v.Type()
 		l := v.NumField()
 		for i := 0; i < l; i++ {
-			e.value(v.Field(i))
+			// see comment for corresponding code in decoder.value()
+			if v := v.Field(i); v.CanSet() || t.Field(i).Name != "_" {
+				e.value(v)
+			} else {
+				e.skip(v)
+			}
 		}
 
 	case reflect.Slice:
@@ -492,6 +513,18 @@ func (e *encoder) value(v reflect.Value) {
 	}
 }
 
+func (d *decoder) skip(v reflect.Value) {
+	d.buf = d.buf[dataSize(v):]
+}
+
+func (e *encoder) skip(v reflect.Value) {
+	n := dataSize(v)
+	for i := range e.buf[0:n] {
+		e.buf[i] = 0
+	}
+	e.buf = e.buf[n:]
+}
+
 // intDestSize returns the size of the integer that ptrType points to,
 // or 0 if the type is not supported.
 func intDestSize(ptrType interface{}) int {

src/pkg/encoding/binary/binary_test.go

@@ -120,18 +120,14 @@ func testWrite(t *testing.T, order ByteOrder, b []byte, s1 interface{}) {
 	checkResult(t, "Write", order, err, buf.Bytes(), b)
 }
 
-func TestBigEndianRead(t *testing.T) { testRead(t, BigEndian, big, s) }
-
 func TestLittleEndianRead(t *testing.T)     { testRead(t, LittleEndian, little, s) }
-
-func TestBigEndianWrite(t *testing.T) { testWrite(t, BigEndian, big, s) }
-
 func TestLittleEndianWrite(t *testing.T)    { testWrite(t, LittleEndian, little, s) }
-
-func TestBigEndianPtrWrite(t *testing.T) { testWrite(t, BigEndian, big, &s) }
-
 func TestLittleEndianPtrWrite(t *testing.T) { testWrite(t, LittleEndian, little, &s) }
 
+func TestBigEndianRead(t *testing.T)     { testRead(t, BigEndian, big, s) }
+func TestBigEndianWrite(t *testing.T)    { testWrite(t, BigEndian, big, s) }
+func TestBigEndianPtrWrite(t *testing.T) { testWrite(t, BigEndian, big, &s) }
+
 func TestReadSlice(t *testing.T) {
 	slice := make([]int32, 2)
 	err := Read(bytes.NewBuffer(src), BigEndian, slice)
@@ -147,20 +143,75 @@ func TestWriteSlice(t *testing.T) {
 func TestWriteT(t *testing.T) {
 	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
 	ts := T{}
-	err := Write(buf, BigEndian, ts)
+	if err := Write(buf, BigEndian, ts); err == nil {
-	if err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("WriteT: have err == nil, want non-nil")
-		t.Errorf("WriteT: have nil, want non-nil")
 	}
 
 	tv := reflect.Indirect(reflect.ValueOf(ts))
 	for i, n := 0, tv.NumField(); i < n; i++ {
-		err = Write(buf, BigEndian, tv.Field(i).Interface())
+		if err := Write(buf, BigEndian, tv.Field(i).Interface()); err == nil {
-		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("WriteT.%v: have err == nil, want non-nil", tv.Field(i).Type())
-			t.Errorf("WriteT.%v: have nil, want non-nil", tv.Field(i).Type())
 		}
 	}
 }
 
+type BlankFields struct {
+	A uint32
+	_ int32
+	B float64
+	_ [4]int16
+	C byte
+	_ [7]byte
+	_ struct {
+		f [8]float32
+	}
+}
+
+type BlankFieldsProbe struct {
+	A  uint32
+	P0 int32
+	B  float64
+	P1 [4]int16
+	C  byte
+	P2 [7]byte
+	P3 struct {
+		F [8]float32
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBlankFields(t *testing.T) {
+	buf := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	b1 := BlankFields{A: 1234567890, B: 2.718281828, C: 42}
+	if err := Write(buf, LittleEndian, &b1); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	// zero values must have been written for blank fields
+	var p BlankFieldsProbe
+	if err := Read(buf, LittleEndian, &p); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	// quick test: only check first value of slices
+	if p.P0 != 0 || p.P1[0] != 0 || p.P2[0] != 0 || p.P3.F[0] != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("non-zero values for originally blank fields: %#v", p)
+	}
+
+	// write p and see if we can probe only some fields
+	if err := Write(buf, LittleEndian, &p); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+
+	// read should ignore blank fields in b2
+	var b2 BlankFields
+	if err := Read(buf, LittleEndian, &b2); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+	if b1.A != b2.A || b1.B != b2.B || b1.C != b2.C {
+		t.Errorf("%#v != %#v", b1, b2)
+	}
+}
+
 type byteSliceReader struct {
 	remain []byte
 }