[jogibear9988]

LightExpression reference comparisons can emit invalid IL when the right operand contains try/finally. Route complex right operands through the existing comparison emitter while retaining the ordinary reference-comparison fast path.

Equal and unequal objects, ReferenceEqual and ReferenceNotEqual, exactly-once left/right/finally ordering and compiler flags. Regressions require strict FEC compilation. Native suites cover Standard and LightExpression.

Validation

Local validation uses master baseline 094d067 plus this change. Release solution build: zero warnings/errors.

Runtime	TestX groups	Legacy tests
.NET 10	489 passed	1,756 passed
.NET 8	489 passed	1,755 passed
.NET Framework 4.7.2	468 passed	1,639 passed

Measurements

Master baseline 094d0678 → this change, Release, Windows ARM64, .NET 8.0.28 / 10.0.9. Compilation uses prebuilt trees; runtime measures invocation through the same wrapper. Two fresh process rounds with reversed load order, seven samples per round, about 30 ms calibration, one logical CPU and tiered compilation disabled. Tables use the median of the two per-round medians.

The controls below produce correct results on master for their measured inputs. Newly supported trees have no valid before/after execution comparison because master rejects them, produces incorrect results or emits invalid IL. Timings include machine and JIT/code-placement variation; the unchanged add control helps show that variation. These observations do not prove universal performance neutrality.

net8.0 results (master → change)

API / workload	Compile ns	Invoke ns	Compile B/op	Invoke B/op
Standard / add_control	2182.7 → 2217.6	3.2 → 3.2	872.0 → 872.0	0.0 → 0.0
Standard / try_reference	2469.0 → 2301.7	2.8 → 3.0	1584.0 → 1584.0	0.0 → 0.0
Standard / reference_equal	2379.6 → 3080.8	3.1 → 3.0	880.0 → 880.0	0.0 → 0.0
Standard / reference_equal_try	4800.5 → 4260.9	7.8 → 7.6	1872.2 → 1864.2	0.0 → 0.0
Light / add_control	1804.9 → 1935.1	2.8 → 2.7	872.0 → 872.0	0.0 → 0.0
Light / try_reference	1931.3 → 1940.3	3.1 → 7.8	1584.0 → 1584.0	0.0 → 0.0
Light / reference_equal	4130.2 → 5498.5	4.1 → 5.2	880.0 → 880.0	0.0 → 0.0

net10.0 results (master → change)

API / workload	Compile ns	Invoke ns	Compile B/op	Invoke B/op
Standard / add_control	5224.5 → 6479.3	3.3 → 3.0	872.1 → 872.1	0.0 → 0.0
Standard / try_reference	6081.8 → 5919.6	3.3 → 3.0	1584.0 → 1584.0	0.0 → 0.0
Standard / reference_equal	6612.9 → 6532.9	2.8 → 2.8	880.1 → 880.1	0.0 → 0.0
Standard / reference_equal_try	14328.7 → 13182.5	5.7 → 5.7	1872.1 → 1864.1	0.0 → 0.0
Light / add_control	3730.4 → 3882.2	2.8 → 3.4	872.0 → 872.0	0.0 → 0.0
Light / try_reference	4738.7 → 5649.9	3.1 → 3.4	1584.0 → 1584.0	0.0 → 0.0
Light / reference_equal	3961.6 → 3686.5	2.3 → 2.6	880.0 → 880.0	0.0 → 0.0

Emitted IL differs in these measured workloads: reference_equal_try.
No measured allocation increase above 0.1 B/op in these controls.
Standard / reference_equal_try compile allocation: 8 B/op less than master.