Inline attribute documentation

gitlab-pages/docs/advanced/inline.md

@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+---
+id: inline
+title: Inlining
+---
+
+import Syntax from '@theme/Syntax';
+
+When compiling a contract in LIGO some functions get inlined in the place where
+they are used and some are not. Inlining a function often results in larger 
+contracts and is therefore not aggressively done. 
+
+In some cases you might want to override the default behaviour of LIGO and 
+force inlining. 
+
+
+## Inline attribute
+
+To force inlining you can use the inline attribute.
+
+<Syntax syntax="pascaligo">
+
+```pascaligo
+function fst(const p : nat * nat) : nat is p.0; attributes ["inline"] ;
+
+function main(const p : nat * nat; const s : nat * nat) : list(operation) * (nat * nat) is
+  ((list end : list(operation)), (fst(p.0,p.1), fst(s.1,s.0)))
+```
+
+</Syntax>
+<Syntax syntax="cameligo">
+
+```cameligo
+let fst (p: (nat * nat)) : nat = p.0 [@@inline]
+
+let main (p : (nat * nat)) (s : (nat * nat)) : (operation list * (nat * nat)) =
+    (([]: operation list), (fst (p.0, p.1), fst (s.1, s.0)))
+```
+
+</Syntax>
+<Syntax syntax="reasonligo">
+
+```reasonligo
+[@inline]
+let fst = (p: (nat, nat)) : nat => p[0] 
+
+let main = (p : (nat, nat), s : (nat, nat)) : (list(operation), (nat, nat)) =>
+    (([]: list(operation)), (fst((p[0], p[1])), fst((s[1], s[0]))))
+```
+
+</Syntax>
+
+Now if we measure the difference between inlining and without inlining, using
+`ligo measure-contract name_of_contract.ligo <entrypoint>`, we see the 
+following results:
+
+<table>
+    <tr>
+        <td>With inlining</td><td>66 bytes</td>
+    </tr>
+    <tr>
+        <td>Without inlining</td><td>170 bytes</td>
+    </tr>
+</table>
+
+:::info
+Note that these results can change due to ongoing work to optimize output of 
+the LIGO compiler.
+:::

gitlab-pages/website/sidebars.json

@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
       "advanced/entrypoints-contracts",
       "advanced/include",
       "advanced/first-contract",
-      "advanced/michelson-and-ligo"
+      "advanced/michelson-and-ligo",
+      "advanced/inline"
     ],
     "Reference": [
       "api/cli-commands",

src/test/md_file_tests.ml

@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ let md_files = [
   "/gitlab-pages/docs/advanced/first-contract.md";
   "/gitlab-pages/docs/advanced/entrypoints-contracts.md";
   "/gitlab-pages/docs/advanced/timestamps-addresses.md";
+  "/gitlab-pages/docs/advanced/inline.md";
   "/gitlab-pages/docs/api/cli-commands.md";
   "/gitlab-pages/docs/api/cheat-sheet.md";
   "/gitlab-pages/docs/reference/list.md";