inputs/REMIB/Specimen/postprocess.sql: map_nulls__*(): turned off STRICT to allow dynamic inlining, which speeds up the mk_derived_col() statements by 5x (342799.823 ms -> 71533.252 ms (6 min -> 1 min) for latitude_sec)

inputs/REMIB/Specimen/postprocess.sql: runtimes: updated for vegbiendev, before dynamic inlining. the times are about twice as fast as on starscream, so vegbiendev is faster at whatever is the limiting speed factor (probably not CPU, based on other benchmarks).

schemas/util.sql: map_nulls(): documented that due to dynamic inlining, this is just as fast as util._map() which it wraps. dynamic inlining now brings altogether a 40x speed improvement to map_nulls() (4000 ms -> 100 ms), and would likely bring a comparable improvement for other functions that are run repeatedly and call other user-defined functions.

bugfix: schemas/util.sql: map_nulls(): updated to use hstore(text[], anyelement), which has replaced hstore(anyarray, anyelement)

schemas/util.sql: removed hstore(anyarray, anyelement), which did not support dynamic inlining, to avoid confusion over which hstore() function to use. use new hstore(text[], anyelement) instead (with explicit cast on the keys array if needed).

schemas/util.sql: added hstore(text[], anyelement), which dynamically inlines properly, unlike hstore(anyarray, anyelement). this can be selected by explicitly casting the keys array to text[], which now provides a 6x speed improvement (380 ms -> 60 ms) for map_nulls().

schemas/util.sql: fix_array(): turned off STRICT to allow dynamic inlining, which speeds up util.map_nulls() by 3x (1500 ms -> 500 ms)

schemas/util.sql: array_length(anyarray), array_length(anyarray, dimension integer): turned off STRICT to allow dynamic inlining, which speeds up util.map_nulls(). this requires adding a `CASE WHEN $1 IS NULL THEN NULL` statement to array_length(anyarray, dimension integer) to replace the functionality provided by STRICT.

schemas/util.sql: map_nulls(): turned off STRICT to allow dynamic inlining, which causes a 2x speed improvement¹. (see r10352 for an explanation of dynamic inlining.) note that turning off STRICT disables NULL-skipping (avoiding running a function when all its params are NULL), so it should only be used when the NULL-skipping optimization is needed less than dynamic inlining....

schemas/util.sql: inlinable IMMUTABLE functions: avoid using config params (e.g. `SET search_path TO util`) because these prevent dynamic inlining (i.e. inlining of a function call with variable instead of constant arguments, by substituting the arguments into the function's body). dynamic inlining can speed up function evaluation significantly, because a (slow) call to a user-defined SQL function is avoided.