When to #[inline]

Inlining is a trade-off between potential execution speed, compile time and code size. There's some discussion about it in this PR to the hashbrown crate. From the thread:

#[inline] is very different than simply just an inline hint. As I mentioned before, there's no equivalent in C++ for what #[inline] does. In debug mode rustc basically ignores #[inline], pretending you didn't even write it. In release mode the compiler will, by default, codegen an #[inline] function into every single referencing codegen unit, and then it will also add inlinehint. This means that if you have 16 CGUs and they all reference an item, every single one is getting the entire item's implementation inlined into it.

You can add #[inline]:

• To public, small, non-generic functions.

You shouldn't need #[inline]:

• On methods that have any generics in scope.
• On methods on traits that don't have a default implementation.

#[inline] can always be introduced later, so if you're in doubt they can just be removed.

What about #[inline(always)]?

You should just about never need #[inline(always)]. It may be beneficial for private helper methods that are used in a limited number of places or for trivial operators. A micro benchmark should justify the attribute.

For reviewers

#[inline] can always be added later, so if there's any debate about whether it's appropriate feel free to defer it by removing the annotations for a start.