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Trace Scheduling
Trace scheduling is an optimization technique developed by Josh Fisher used in compilers for computer programs. A compiler often can, by rearranging its generated machine instructions for faster execution, improve program performance. It increases ILP (Instruction Level Parallelism) along the important execution path by statically predicting frequent execution path. Trace scheduling is one of many known techniques for doing so. A trace is a sequence of instructions, including branches but not including loops, that is executed for some input data. Trace scheduling uses a basic block scheduling method to schedule the instructions in each entire trace, beginning with the trace with the highest frequency. It then adds compensation code at the entry and exit of each trace to compensate for any effects that out-of-order execution may have had. This can result in large increases in code sizes and poor or erratic performance if program's behavior varies significantly with the input. Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compiler Optimization
An optimizing compiler is a compiler designed to generate code that is optimized in aspects such as minimizing program execution time, memory usage, storage size, and power consumption. Optimization is generally implemented as a sequence of optimizing transformations, a.k.a. compiler optimizations algorithms that transform code to produce semantically equivalent code optimized for some aspect. Optimization is limited by a number of factors. Theoretical analysis indicates that some optimization problems are NP-complete, or even undecidable. Also, producing perfectly ''optimal'' code is not possible since optimizing for one aspect often degrades performance for another. Optimization is a collection of heuristic methods for improving resource usage in typical programs. Categorization Local vs. global scope Scope describes how much of the input code is considered to apply optimizations. Local scope optimizations use information local to a basic block. Since basic blocks cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josh Fisher
Joseph A "Josh" Fisher (born July 22, 1946) is an American and Spanish computer scientist noted for his work on VLIW architectures, compiling, and instruction-level parallelism, and for the founding of Multiflow Computer. He is a Hewlett-Packard Senior Fellow (Emeritus).Hewlett-Packard Senior Fellow Biography Biography Fisher holds a BA (1968) in mathematics (with honors) from and obtained a[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compilers
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a low-level programming language (e.g. assembly language, object code, or machine code) to create an executable program. Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman - Second Edition, 2007 There are many different types of compilers which produce output in different useful forms. A ''cross-compiler'' produces code for a different CPU or operating system than the one on which the cross-compiler itself runs. A '' bootstrap compiler'' is often a temporary compiler, used for compiling a more permanent or better optimised compiler for a language. Related software include '' decompilers'', programs that translate from low-leve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Programs
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangible components. A ''computer program'' in its human-readable form is called source code. Source code needs another computer program to Execution (computing), execute because computers can only execute their native machine instructions. Therefore, source code may be Translator (computing), translated to machine instructions using a compiler written for the language. (Assembly language programs are translated using an Assembler (computing), assembler.) The resulting file is called an executable. Alternatively, source code may execute within an interpreter (computing), interpreter written for the language. If the executable is requested for execution, then the operating system Loader (computing), loads it into Random-access memory, memory and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instruction Scheduling
In computer science, instruction scheduling is a compiler optimization used to improve instruction-level parallelism, which improves performance on machines with instruction pipelines. Put more simply, it tries to do the following without changing the meaning of the code: * Avoid pipeline stalls by rearranging the order of instructions. * Avoid illegal or semantically ambiguous operations (typically involving subtle instruction pipeline timing issues or non-interlocked resources). The pipeline stalls can be caused by structural hazards (processor resource limit), data hazards (output of one instruction needed by another instruction) and control hazards (branching). Data hazards Instruction scheduling is typically done on a single basic block. In order to determine whether rearranging the block's instructions in a certain way preserves the behavior of that block, we need the concept of a ''data dependency''. There are three types of dependencies, which also happen to be the thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machine Instruction
In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers, machine code is the binaryOn nonbinary machines it is, e.g., a decimal representation. representation of a computer program that is actually read and interpreted by the computer. A program in machine code consists of a sequence of machine instructions (possibly interspersed with data). Each machine code instruction causes the CPU to perform a specific task. Examples of such tasks include: # Load a word from memory to a CPU register # Execute an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) operation on one or more registers or memory locations # Jump or skip to an instruction that is not the next one In general, each architecture family (e.g., x86, ARM) has its own instruction set architecture (ISA), and hence its own specific machine code language. There are exceptions, such as the VA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instruction-level Parallelism
Instruction-level parallelism (ILP) is the Parallel computing, parallel or simultaneous execution of a sequence of Instruction set, instructions in a computer program. More specifically, ILP refers to the average number of instructions run per step of this parallel execution. Discussion ILP must not be confused with Concurrency (computer science), concurrency. In ILP, there is a single specific Thread (computing), thread of execution of a Process (computing), process. On the other hand, concurrency involves the assignment of multiple threads to a Central processing unit, CPU's core in a strict alternation, or in true parallelism if there are enough CPU cores, ideally one core for each runnable thread. There are two approaches to instruction-level parallelism: Computer hardware, hardware and software. Hardware-level ILP works upon dynamic parallelism, whereas software-level ILP works on static parallelism. Dynamic parallelism means that the processor decides at run time whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Out-of-order Execution
In computer engineering, out-of-order execution (or more formally dynamic execution) is an instruction scheduling paradigm used in high-performance central processing units to make use of instruction cycles that would otherwise be wasted. In this paradigm, a processor executes instructions in an order governed by the availability of input data and execution units, rather than by their original order in a program. In doing so, the processor can avoid being idle while waiting for the preceding instruction to complete and can, in the meantime, process the next instructions that are able to run immediately and independently. History Out-of-order execution is a restricted form of dataflow architecture, which was a major research area in computer architecture in the 1970s and early 1980s. Early use in supercomputers The first machine to use out-of-order execution was the CDC 6600 (1964), designed by James E. Thornton, which uses a scoreboard to avoid conflicts. It permits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VLIW
Very long instruction word (VLIW) refers to instruction set architectures that are designed to exploit instruction-level parallelism (ILP). A VLIW processor allows programs to explicitly specify instructions to execute in parallel computing, parallel, whereas conventional central processing units (CPUs) mostly allow programs to specify instructions to execute in sequence only. VLIW is intended to allow higher performance without the complexity inherent in some other designs. The traditional means to improve performance in processors include dividing instructions into sub steps so the instructions can be executed partly at the same time (termed ''pipelining''), dispatching individual instructions to be executed independently, in different parts of the processor (''superscalar architectures''), and even executing instructions in an order different from the program (''out-of-order execution''). These methods all complicate hardware (larger circuits, higher cost and energy use) becaus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loop Unrolling
Loop unrolling, also known as loop unwinding, is a loop transformation technique that attempts to optimize a program's execution speed at the expense of its binary size, which is an approach known as space–time tradeoff. The transformation can be undertaken manually by the programmer or by an optimizing compiler. On modern processors, loop unrolling is often counterproductive, as the increased code size can cause more cache misses; ''cf.'' Duff's device. The goal of loop unwinding is to increase a program's speed by reducing or eliminating instructions that control the loop, such as pointer arithmetic and "end of loop" tests on each iteration; reducing branch penalties; as well as hiding latencies, including the delay in reading data from memory. To eliminate this computational overhead, loops can be re-written as a repeated sequence of similar independent statements. Loop unrolling is also part of certain formal verification techniques, in particular bounded model chec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Branch Prediction
In computer architecture, a branch predictor is a digital circuit that tries to guess which way a branch (e.g., an if–then–else structure) will go before this is known definitively. The purpose of the branch predictor is to improve the flow in the instruction pipeline. Branch predictors play a critical role in achieving high performance in many modern pipelined microprocessor architectures. Two-way branching is usually implemented with a conditional jump instruction. A conditional jump can either be "taken" and jump to a different place in program memory, or it can be "not taken" and continue execution immediately after the conditional jump. It is not known for certain whether a conditional jump will be taken or not taken until the condition has been calculated and the conditional jump has passed the execution stage in the instruction pipeline (see fig. 1). Without branch prediction, the processor would have to wait until the conditional jump instruction has passed the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compiler Optimizations
An optimizing compiler is a compiler designed to generate code that is optimized in aspects such as minimizing program execution time, memory usage, storage size, and power consumption. Optimization is generally implemented as a sequence of optimizing transformations, a.k.a. compiler optimizations algorithms that transform code to produce semantically equivalent code optimized for some aspect. Optimization is limited by a number of factors. Theoretical analysis indicates that some optimization problems are NP-complete, or even undecidable. Also, producing perfectly ''optimal'' code is not possible since optimizing for one aspect often degrades performance for another. Optimization is a collection of heuristic methods for improving resource usage in typical programs. Categorization Local vs. global scope Scope describes how much of the input code is considered to apply optimizations. Local scope optimizations use information local to a basic block. Since basic blocks conta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
