Compiler

Construction
Lecture 4
 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Register Allocation:
•Have each value in a register
when it is used.
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 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Register Allocation:
•Manage a limited set of resources
– register file.
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 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Register Allocation:
• Can change instruction choices and insert LOADs and STOREs.

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 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Register Allocation:
•Optimal register allocation is NP-
Complete.
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 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Instruction Scheduling:
•Avoid hardware stalls and
interlocks.
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 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Instruction Scheduling:
•Use all functional units
productively.
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 The Back End
IR Instruction IR Register IR Instruction machine
selection allocation scheduling code

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Instruction Scheduling:
• Optimal scheduling is
NP-Complete in nearly all cases.

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 Three-pass Compiler
Source Front IR Middle IR Back machine
code End End End code

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•Intermediate stage for code

improvement or optimization

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 Three-pass Compiler
Source Front IR Middle IR Back machine
code End End End code

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•Analyzes IR and rewrites (or

transforms) IR

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 Three-pass Compiler
Source Front IR Middle IR Back machine
code End End End code

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•Primary goal is to reduce running

time of the compiled code

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 Three-pass Compiler
Source Front IR Middle IR Back machine
code End End End code

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•May also improve space usage,

power consumption, ...

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 Three-pass Compiler
Source Front IR Middle IR Back machine
code End End End code

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• Must preserve “meaning” of the code.
• Measured by values of named variables

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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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•Modern optimizers are structured
as a series of passes

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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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Typical transformations
•Discover & propagate some
constant value
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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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Typical transformations
•Move a computation to a less
frequently executed place
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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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Typical transformations
•Specialize some computation
based on context
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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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Typical transformations
•Discover a redundant
computation & remove it
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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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Typical transformations
•Remove useless or unreachable
code
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 Optimizer
IR
IR Opt IR Opt IR Opt Opt IR
1 2 3 n

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Typical transformations
•Encode an idiom in some
particularly efficient form
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Role of Run-time System
• Memory management
• Allocate/deallocate
• Garbage collection
• Run-time type checking
• Error/exception processing
• Interface to OS – I/O
• Support for parallelism
• Parallel threads
• Communication and synchronization
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Related to Compilers
• Interpreters (direct execution)
• Assemblers
• Preprocessors
• Text formatters (non-WYSIWYG)
• Analysis tools

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