What is a Slot?

A thin opening in something, such as a mail slot or the gap between the tips of a bird’s primaries. Also used as a term for the place in a queue where someone stands or waits, such as at an airport.

In computer architecture, a slot (or execute pipeline) comprises the operation issue and data path machinery surrounding a set of execution units, which are collectively called functional units (FU). Modern conventional CPUs have multiple compute pipelines, each of which can be issued to one or more FUs per basic instruction cycle.

The slots table is a key component of the magic that makes Jetpack Compose so fast, smart, and reactive — without needing real View objects in memory. This article digs into the details of this core data structure, with practical examples to help you get started.