inlinetyyppisiä

inlinetyyppisiä is a Finnish term that translates to "inline types" in English. In programming, the concept of inline types refers to data structures or types that are not allocated on the heap but are instead directly embedded within the memory of the object that contains them. This contrasts with reference types, which are typically stored on the heap and accessed indirectly through pointers or references.

The primary benefit of using inline types is performance. By avoiding heap allocations and indirect access, inline types can lead to faster object creation, access, and destruction. This is because memory access is more cache-friendly, reducing the overhead associated with memory management. Inline types can also contribute to smaller object sizes, further optimizing memory usage.

Languages like C++ heavily utilize inline types through structures and classes. When a class or struct is defined, its members are typically laid out contiguously in memory. When an instance of this type is created, its data is allocated directly where the variable is declared, whether that's on the stack or as part of another object.

While advantageous for performance, inline types can sometimes lead to larger individual object sizes if not managed carefully, as all data is embedded. This can impact memory locality if many large inline objects are created. The choice between inline and reference types often involves a trade-off between performance gains and memory footprint.