Exhaustive Optimization Phase Order Space Exploration

The phase-ordering problem is a long standing issue for compiler writers. Most optimizing compilers typically have numerous different code-improving phases, many of which can be applied in any order. These phases interact by enabling or disabling opportunities for other optimization phases to be applied. As a result, varying the order of applying optimization phases to a program can produce different code, with potentially significant performance variation amongst them. Complicating this problem further is the fact that there is no universal optimization phase order that will produce the best code, since the best phase order depends on the function being compiled, the compiler, and the target architecture characteristics. Moreover, finding the optimal optimization sequence for even a single function is hard as the space of attempted optimization phase sequences is huge and the interactions between different optimizations are poorly understood. Most previous studies performed to sear...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: CGO
• Authors: Prasad Kulkarni, David B. Whalley, Gary S. Tyson, Jack W. Davidson
• Keywords: CGO 2006, Optimization Phase, Optimization Phase Order, Optimization Phase Sequence, Software Engineering