diff --git a/compiler/ast.nim b/compiler/ast.nim
index 8afe80b78c8..86910b9e8c5 100644
--- a/compiler/ast.nim
+++ b/compiler/ast.nim
@@ -785,28 +785,13 @@ type
     kind: TNodeKind     ## presently the same as the nim node
     extra: ExtraDataId  ## id into extra data about this node, depends on
                         ## `kind`, for lookup of literal, sym, ident, etc
-  AstTree = OrderedTable[NodeId, TNodeSeq]
-    ## store the tree structure for nodes, this is effectively `sons`
-  
-  # ExtraData = object
-  #   case kind: ExtraDataKind
-  #   of IntLiteralKind:
-  #     intVal: BiggestInt
-  #   of FloatLiteralKind:
-  #     floatVal: BiggestFloat
-  #   of StringLiteralKind:
-  #     strVal: string
-  #   of SymbolDataKind:
-  #     sym: PSym
-  #   of IdentifierDataKind:
-  #     ident: PIdent
 
   State = ref object
     nodeList: NodeList        ## each node, NodeId is their sequence index
     nodeFlag: seq[TNodeFlags] ## flags for each node, rarely accessed bloat
     nodeInf: seq[TLineInfo]   ## info on a per node basis
 
-    astData: AstTree          ## actual tree structure for the various AST
+    # astData: AstTree          ## actual tree structure for the various AST
 
     # sparse data, not all nodes have these
     nodeTyp: OrderedTable[NodeId, PType] ## types
@@ -817,12 +802,7 @@ type
     nodeInt: seq[BiggestInt]   ## int literals
     nodeFlt: seq[BiggestFloat] ## float literals
     nodeStr: seq[string]       ## string literals
-
-    # nodeSym: OrderedTable[NodeId, PSym]         ## symbols
-    # nodeIdt: OrderedTable[NodeId, PIdent]       ## identifiers
-    # nodeInt: OrderedTable[NodeId, BiggestInt]   ## int literals
-    # nodeFlt: OrderedTable[NodeId, BiggestFloat] ## float literals
-    # nodeStr: OrderedTable[NodeId, string]       ## string literals
+    astData: seq[TNodeSeq]     ## the sons for ast nodes
   
   ExtraDataKind {.pure.} = enum
     ExtraDataNone,
@@ -830,7 +810,8 @@ type
     ExtraDataFloat,
     ExtraDataString,
     ExtraDataSymbol,
-    ExtraDataIdentifier
+    ExtraDataIdentifier,
+    ExtraDataAst
 
   # IDs
   # xxx: disabled distincts until the basics work
@@ -1108,7 +1089,7 @@ func extraDataKind(k: TNodeKind): ExtraDataKind {.inline.} =
   of nkStrLit..nkTripleStrLit:  ExtraDataString
   of nkSym:                     ExtraDataSymbol
   of nkIdent:                   ExtraDataIdentifier
-  else:                         ExtraDataNone
+  else:                         ExtraDataAst
 
 const
   # unknownLineInfoId = InfoId 0
@@ -1246,11 +1227,14 @@ proc sons*(n: PNode): var TNodeSeq {.inline.} =
   # assert n.kind notin haveNoSons, "not a parent, id: " & $n.id
   {.cast(noSideEffect).}:
     # assert n.id.int <= state.nodeList.len, "invalid node id: " & $n.id.int
-    result = state.astData.mgetOrPut(n.id, @[])
+    if n.extraId == nilExtraDataId:
+      state.astData.add @[]
+      state.nodeList[n.idx].extra = ExtraDataId state.astData.len
+    result = state.astData[n.extraId.idx]
 proc `sons=`*(n: PNode, sons: TNodeSeq) =
   # assert n.kind notin haveNoSons, "not a parent, id: " & $n.id
   # assert n.id.int <= state.nodeList.len, "invalid node id: " & $n.id.int
-  state.astData[n.id] = sons
+  state.astData[n.extraIdx] = sons
 
 proc idToNode*(id: NodeId): PNode {.inline.} =
   # assert id.int <= state.nodeList.len, "invalid node id: " & $id.int
@@ -1559,13 +1543,7 @@ proc add*(father, son: Indexable) {.inline.} =
 
 template `[]`*(n: Indexable, i: int): Indexable = n.sons[i]
 template `[]=`*(n: Indexable, i: int; x: Indexable) =
-  when n is PNode:
-    var tmp = state.astData[n.id]
-    tmp[i] = x
-    state.astData[n.id] = tmp
-  else:
-    n.sons[i] = x
-  # n.sons[i] = x
+  n.sons[i] = x
 
 template `[]`*(n: Indexable, i: BackwardsIndex): Indexable = n[n.len - i.int]
 template `[]=`*(n: Indexable, i: BackwardsIndex; x: Indexable) = n[n.len - i.int] = x
@@ -1628,7 +1606,9 @@ template newNodeImpl(kind: TNodeKind, info2: TLineInfo) =
   of ExtraDataIdentifier:
     state.nodeIdt.add nil
     state.nodeList[nodeIdx].extra = ExtraDataId state.nodeIdt.len
-  of ExtraDataNone:
+  of ExtraDataAst, ExtraDataNone:
+    state.astData.add @[]
+    state.nodeList[nodeIdx].extra = ExtraDataId state.astData.len
     discard
 
   result = PNode(id: nodeId)
@@ -2049,8 +2029,6 @@ proc applyToNode*(src, dest: PNode) =
   # assert not dest.isNil
   # assert not src.isNil
   # assert dest.id != src.id, "applying to self, id: " & $src.id
-  if state.astData.hasKey(src.id):
-    state.astData[dest.id] = state.astData[src.id]
   state.nodeList[dest.idx] = state.nodeList[src.idx]
   state.nodeFlag[dest.idx] = state.nodeFlag[src.idx]
   state.nodeInf[dest.idx] = state.nodeInf[src.idx]
@@ -2067,8 +2045,8 @@ proc applyToNode*(src, dest: PNode) =
     dest.sym = src.sym
   of ExtraDataIdentifier:
     dest.ident = src.ident
-  of ExtraDataNone:
-    discard
+  of ExtraDataAst, ExtraDataNone:
+    dest.sons = src.sons
 
 proc copyNode*(src: PNode): PNode =
   # does not copy its sons!
@@ -2137,7 +2115,9 @@ template transitionNodeKindCommon(k, old: TNodeKind) =
   
   for clear in clears.items:
     case clear
-    of nodeClearAst: discard # state.astData.del(n.id)
+    of nodeClearAst:
+      if oldExtraDataKind == ExtraDataAst:
+        state.astData[n.extraIdx].setLen(0)
     of nodeClearFlg: state.nodeFlag[n.idx] = {}
     of nodeClearInf: state.nodeInf[n.idx] = unknownLineInfo
     of nodeClearTyp: state.nodeTyp.del(n.id)
diff --git a/compiler/sem.nim b/compiler/sem.nim
index 9d03a451f8c..04d1d0beb07 100644
--- a/compiler/sem.nim
+++ b/compiler/sem.nim
@@ -851,7 +851,6 @@ proc myProcess(context: PPassContext, n: PNode): PNode {.nosinks.} =
   ## from a module as it's parsed and uses the context to accumulate data.
   var c = PContext(context)
   # no need for an expensive 'try' if we stop after the first error anyway:
-  echo "processing: ", c.config.`$`(n.info)
   if c.config.errorMax <= 1:
     result = semStmtAndGenerateGenerics(c, n)
   else: