struct weak_entry_t {
    DisguisedPtr<objc_object> referent;
    union {
        struct {
            weak_referrer_t *referrers;
            uintptr_t        out_of_line_ness : 2;
            uintptr_t        num_refs : PTR_MINUS_2;
            uintptr_t        mask;
            uintptr_t        max_hash_displacement;
        };
        struct {
            // out_of_line_ness field is low bits of inline_referrers[1]
            weak_referrer_t  inline_referrers[WEAK_INLINE_COUNT];
        };
    };

    bool out_of_line() {
        return (out_of_line_ness == REFERRERS_OUT_OF_LINE);
    }

    weak_entry_t& operator=(const weak_entry_t& other) {
        memcpy(this, &other, sizeof(other));
        return *this;
    }

    weak_entry_t(objc_object *newReferent, objc_object **newReferrer)
        : referent(newReferent)
    {
        inline_referrers[0] = newReferrer;
        for (int i = 1; i < WEAK_INLINE_COUNT; i++) {
            inline_referrers[i] = nil;
        }
    }
};

weak_entry_t内部优化设计：
一个对象对应的弱引用数目较少的话(<=WEAK_INLINE_COUNT，runtime把这个值设置为4)，则其弱引用会被依次保存到一个inline数组里。这个inline数组的内存会在weak_entry_t初始化的时候一并分配好，而不是需要用到的时候再去申请新的内存空间，从而达到提到运行效率的目的。

此外，union中的两个struct是共享同一块内存的，如果不使用inline数组，而直接使用HashTable的方式来实现，那么num_refs，mask和max_hash_displacement这些变量都需要单独的存储空间，会使用更多的内存。综上，使用inline数组在节约一定内存空间的同时还相对提高了运行效率。

out_of_line_ness占用的是inline_referrers[1]最低两位的空间，也是weak_entry_t当前使用inline数组还是outline数组(也就是HashTable的实现)的标记位。

对weak_entry_t主要操作的函数是grow_refs_and_insert和append_referrer

append_referrer函数来为一个对象保存新的弱引用

static void append_referrer(weak_entry_t *entry, objc_object **new_referrer)
{
    if (! entry->out_of_line()) {
        // Try to insert inline.
        for (size_t i = 0; i < WEAK_INLINE_COUNT; i++) {
            if (entry->inline_referrers[i] == nil) {
                entry->inline_referrers[i] = new_referrer;
                return;
            }
        }

        // Couldn't insert inline. Allocate out of line.
        weak_referrer_t *new_referrers = (weak_referrer_t *)
            calloc(WEAK_INLINE_COUNT, sizeof(weak_referrer_t));
        // This constructed table is invalid, but grow_refs_and_insert
        // will fix it and rehash it.
        for (size_t i = 0; i < WEAK_INLINE_COUNT; i++) {
            new_referrers[i] = entry->inline_referrers[i];
        }
        entry->referrers = new_referrers;
        entry->num_refs = WEAK_INLINE_COUNT;
        entry->out_of_line_ness = REFERRERS_OUT_OF_LINE;
        entry->mask = WEAK_INLINE_COUNT-1;
        entry->max_hash_displacement = 0;
    }

    assert(entry->out_of_line());

    if (entry->num_refs >= TABLE_SIZE(entry) * 3/4) {
        return grow_refs_and_insert(entry, new_referrer);
    }
    size_t begin = w_hash_pointer(new_referrer) & (entry->mask);
    size_t index = begin;
    size_t hash_displacement = 0;
    while (entry->referrers[index] != nil) {
        hash_displacement++;
        index = (index+1) & entry->mask;
        if (index == begin) bad_weak_table(entry);
    }
    if (hash_displacement > entry->max_hash_displacement) {
        entry->max_hash_displacement = hash_displacement;
    }
    weak_referrer_t &ref = entry->referrers[index];
    ref = new_referrer;
    entry->num_refs++;
}

• append_referrer函数首先处理weak_entry_t还在使用inline数组的情况。首先尝试像inline数组中插入一个新的弱引用，如果inline数组已满，那就创建一个WEAK_INLINE_COUNT大小的新数组，改用outline的方式，将inline数组中的元素依次拷贝过来。

• 函数的后半部分处理使用outline数组的情况，如果outline数组的使用率在75%及以上，那么调用grow_refs_and_insert函数进行扩充，并且插入新的弱引用。否则就直接进行hash运算插入，过程和weak_table_t的插入过程基本相同。

__attribute__((noinline, used))
static void grow_refs_and_insert(weak_entry_t *entry, 
                                 objc_object **new_referrer)
{
    assert(entry->out_of_line());

    size_t old_size = TABLE_SIZE(entry);
    size_t new_size = old_size ? old_size * 2 : 8;

    size_t num_refs = entry->num_refs;
    weak_referrer_t *old_refs = entry->referrers;
    entry->mask = new_size - 1;
    
    entry->referrers = (weak_referrer_t *)
        calloc(TABLE_SIZE(entry), sizeof(weak_referrer_t));
    entry->num_refs = 0;
    entry->max_hash_displacement = 0;
    
    for (size_t i = 0; i < old_size && num_refs > 0; i++) {
        if (old_refs[i] != nil) {
            append_referrer(entry, old_refs[i]);
            num_refs--;
        }
    }
    // Insert
    append_referrer(entry, new_referrer);
    if (old_refs) free(old_refs);
}

函数首先对outline数组进行扩充，容量是原来的两倍。而后依次将老数组中的元素hash插入到新数组中，最终hash插入新的引用。

static void remove_referrer(weak_entry_t *entry, objc_object **old_referrer)
{
    if (! entry->out_of_line()) {
        for (size_t i = 0; i < WEAK_INLINE_COUNT; i++) {
            if (entry->inline_referrers[i] == old_referrer) {
                entry->inline_referrers[i] = nil;
                return;
            }
        }
        _objc_inform("Attempted to unregister unknown __weak variable "
                     "at %p. This is probably incorrect use of "
                     "objc_storeWeak() and objc_loadWeak(). "
                     "Break on objc_weak_error to debug.\n", 
                     old_referrer);
        objc_weak_error();
        return;
    }

    size_t begin = w_hash_pointer(old_referrer) & (entry->mask);
    size_t index = begin;
    size_t hash_displacement = 0;
    while (entry->referrers[index] != old_referrer) {
        index = (index+1) & entry->mask;
        if (index == begin) bad_weak_table(entry);
        hash_displacement++;
        if (hash_displacement > entry->max_hash_displacement) {
            _objc_inform("Attempted to unregister unknown __weak variable "
                         "at %p. This is probably incorrect use of "
                         "objc_storeWeak() and objc_loadWeak(). "
                         "Break on objc_weak_error to debug.\n", 
                         old_referrer);
            objc_weak_error();
            return;
        }
    }
    entry->referrers[index] = nil;
    entry->num_refs--;
}

• remove_referrer函数负责删除一个弱引用。函数首先处理inline数组的情况，直接将对应的弱引用项置空。如果使用了outline数组，则通过hash找到要删除的项，并直接删除。
  参考：
  https://www.jianshu.com/p/045294e1f062