VM: add simple benchmarking tool for mainnet blocks

.github/workflows/vm-build.yml

@@ -103,3 +103,61 @@ jobs:
         working-directory: ${{github.workspace}}
 
       - run: npm run test:blockchain
+
+  vm-benchmarks:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v1
+        with:
+          node-version: 12.x
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Dependency cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v2
+        id: cache
+        with:
+          key: VM-${{ runner.os }}-${{ matrix.node-version }}-${{ hashFiles('**/package-lock.json') }}
+          path: '**/node_modules'
+
+      # Installs root dependencies, ignoring Bootstrap All script.
+      # Bootstraps the current package only
+      - run: npm install --ignore-scripts && npm run bootstrap:vm
+        if: steps.cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        working-directory: ${{github.workspace}}
+
+      # Builds current package and the ones it depends from.
+      - run: npm run build:vm
+        working-directory: ${{github.workspace}}
+
+      - run: npm run build:benchmarks
+        working-directory: ${{ env.cwd }}
+
+      - run: npm run benchmarks -- 10 | tee output.txt
+        working-directory: ${{ env.cwd }}
+
+      - name: Set auto-push for benchmarks to true if on master
+        id: auto_push
+        run: |
+          if [$REF == 'refs/heads/master']
+          then
+              echo "::set-output name=auto_push::true"
+          else
+              echo "::set-output name=auto_push::false"
+          fi
+        env:
+          REF: ${{ github.ref }}
+
+      - name: Compare benchmarks
+        uses: rhysd/github-action-benchmark@v1
+        with:
+          tool: 'benchmarkjs'
+          # Where the output from the benchmark tool is stored
+          output-file-path: ${{ env.cwd }}/output.txt
+          # Enable alert commit comment
+          comment-on-alert: true
+          # Always leave a commit comment comparing the current benchmark with previous
+          comment-always: true
+          # GitHub API token to make a commit comment
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          # Push and deploy to GitHub pages branch automatically (if on master)
+          auto-push: ${{ steps.auto_push.outputs.auto_push }}

packages/vm/.gitignore

@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-.cachedb
+.cachedb
+scripts/benchmarks/*.js

packages/vm/developer.md

@@ -142,3 +142,30 @@ An extremely rich and powerful toolbox is the [evmlab](https://github.com/holima
 ```sh
 NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=4096" clinic flame -- node ./tests/tester.js --blockchain --excludeDir='GeneralStateTests'
 ```
+
+## Benchmarks
+
+This helps us see how the VM performs when running mainnet blocks.
+
+We want to use the compiled JS so `ts-node` does not show up in the profile. So run:
+
+`npm run build:benchmarks`
+
+Then:
+
+`npm run benchmarks`
+
+To define the number of samples to be run pass in a number like so: `npm run benchmarks -- 10`
+
+If you want to get a more detailed look to find bottlenecks we can use [0x](https://github.com/davidmarkclements/0x).
+
+So run:
+
+```
+npm i -g 0x
+0x scripts/benchmarks/mainnetBlocks.js scripts/benchmarks/fixture/blocks-prestate.json
+```
+
+and open the link it generates.
+
+For a high-level introduction on flame graphs see e.g. [this](https://blog.codecentric.de/en/2017/09/jvm-fire-using-flame-graphs-analyse-performance/) blog article (the non-Java part).

packages/vm/package.json

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
   ],
   "scripts": {
     "build": "ethereumjs-config-build",
+    "build:benchmarks": "npm run build && tsc -p tsconfig.benchmarks.json",
+    "benchmarks": "node --max-old-space-size=4096 ./scripts/benchmarks/mainnetBlocks.js scripts/benchmarks/fixture/blocks-prestate.json",
     "prepublishOnly": "npm run lint && npm run build && npm run test:buildIntegrity",
     "coverage": "nyc npm run coverage:test && nyc report --reporter=lcov",
     "coverage:test": "tape './tests/api/**/*.js' ./tests/tester.js --state --dist",
@@ -60,11 +62,13 @@
     "@ethereumjs/config-prettier": "^1.1.1",
     "@ethereumjs/config-tsc": "^1.1.1",
     "@ethereumjs/config-tslint": "^1.1.1",
+    "@types/benchmark": "^1.0.33",
     "@types/bn.js": "^4.11.6",
     "@types/core-js": "^2.5.0",
     "@types/lru-cache": "^5.1.0",
     "@types/node": "^11.13.4",
     "@types/tape": "^4.13.0",
+    "benchmark": "^2.1.4",
     "browserify": "^16.5.1",
     "ethereumjs-testing": "git+https://github.com/ethereumjs/ethereumjs-testing.git#v1.3.3",
     "karma": "^4.1.0",