Partial reverse if-conversion framework for balancing control flow and predication

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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 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 apply if-conversion effectively, one must address two major issues: what should be if-converted and when the if-conversion should be performed. A compiler's use of predication as a representation is most effective when large amounts of code are if-converted and when if-conversion is performed early in the compilation procedure. On the other hand, efficient execution of code generated for a processor with predicated execution requires a delicate balance between control flow and predication. The appropriate balance is tightly coupled with scheduling decisions and detailed processor characteristics. This paper presents a compilation framework based on partial reverse if-conversion 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)
Pages (from-to)381-423
Number of pages43
JournalInternational Journal of Parallel Programming
Volume27
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • Information Systems

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