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Pinocchio · hard

47. Pinocchio: Memory Layout & Zero-Allocation Model

Direct memory mapping over deserialization.

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Unlike Anchor (which copies and deserializes bytes into heap/stack structs), Pinocchio uses zero-allocation pointer arithmetic and direct memory mapping over the raw SBF input buffer.

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Check your understanding

1. How does Pinocchio process account data without heap allocations?
Direct pointer mapping into raw account memory without cloning bytesStoring data in global variablesUsing SQLiteBorsh serialization
2. How many compute units does a basic Pinocchio instruction overhead consume compared to Anchor?
A few hundred CUs vs thousands of CUs in AnchorIdentical CUsMore CUsZero CUs

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