Replacing a Rust Enum with a 64-Bit Word Made My Interpreter 17% Faster
The author replaced a Rust enum with a 64‑bit word in their interpreter, cutting runtime overhead and boosting performance by 17 %. The change simplified the type system, reduced memory usage, and improved cache behavior, allowing the interpreter to execute faster. The post highlights how a small language‑level tweak can yield measurable speed gains in production.