HyperLink   Program Decision Logic Optimization Using Predication and Control Speculation
   
Publication Year:
  2001
Authors
  Wen-mei Hwu, David I. August, John W. Sias
   
Published:
  Proceedings of the IEEE, November, 2001
   
Abstract:

The mainstream arrival of predication, a means other than branching of selecting instructions for execution, has required compiler architects to reformulate fundamental analyses and transformations. Traditionally, the compiler has generated branches straightforwardly to implement control flow designed by the programmer and has then performed sophisticated global
optimizations to move and optimize code around them. In this model, the inherent tie between the control state of the program and the location of the single instruction pointer serialized run-time evaluation of control and limited the extent to which the compiler could optimize the control structure of the program (without extensive code replication). Predication provides a means of control independent of branches and instruction fetch location, freeing
both compiler and architecture from these restrictions; effective compilation of predicated code, however, requires sophisticated understanding of the programs control structure. This paper explores a representational technique which, through direct code analysis, maps the programs control component into a canonical database, a reduced ordered binary decision diagram (ROBDD), which fully enables the compiler to utilize and manipulate predication. This abstraction is then applied to optimize the programs control component, transforming it into a form more amenable to instruction level parallel (ILP) execution.