Framework for balancing control flow and predication

David I. August, Wen mei W. Hwu, Scott A. Mahlke

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

53 Scopus citations

Abstract

Predicated execution is a promising architectural feature for exploiting instruction-level parallelism in the presence of control flow. Compiling for predicated execution involves converting program control flow into conditional, or predicated, instructions. This process is known as if-conversion. In order to effectively apply if-conversion, one must address two major issues: what should be if-converted and when the if-conversion should be applied. A compiler's use of predication as a representation is most effective when large amounts of code are if-converted and if-conversion is performed early in the compilation procedure. On the other hand, the final code generated for a processor with predicated execution requires a delicate balance between control flow and predication to achieve efficient execution. The appropriate balance is tightly coupled with scheduling decisions and detailed processor characteristics. This paper presents an effective compilation framework that allows the compiler to maximize the benefits of predication as a compiler representation while delaying the final balancing of control flow and predication to schedule time.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Annual International Symposium on Microarchitecture
PublisherIEEE Comp Soc
Pages92-103
Number of pages12
ISBN (Print)0818679778
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997
Externally publishedYes
EventProceedings of the 1997 30th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture, MICRO-30 - Triangle Park, NC, USA
Duration: Dec 1 1997Dec 3 1997

Other

OtherProceedings of the 1997 30th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture, MICRO-30
CityTriangle Park, NC, USA
Period12/1/9712/3/97

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Software

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Framework for balancing control flow and predication'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this