Abstract Comprehensive Path-sensitive Data-flow Analysis.pdfVIP

Comprehensive Path-sensitive Data-flow Analysis Aditya Thakur Supercomputer Education and Research Centre aditya@hpc.serc.iisc.ernet.in R. Govindarajan Supercomputer Education and Research Centre govind@serc.iisc.ernet.in Abstract Data-flow analysis is an integral part of any aggressive op- timizing compiler. We propose a framework for improving the precision of data-flow analysis in the presence of com- plex control-flow. We initially perform data-flow analysis to determine those control-flow merges which cause the loss in data-flow analysis precision. The control-flow graph of the program is then restructured such that performing data-flow analysis on the resulting restructured graph gives more pre- cise results. The proposed framework is both simple, involv- ing the familiar notion of product automata, and also general, since it is applicable to any forward or backward data-flow analysis. Apart from proving that our restructuring process is correct, we also show that restructuring is profitable in that it necessarily leads to more optimization opportunities. Fur- thermore, the framework handles the trade-off between the increase in data-flow precision and the code size increase inherent in the restructuring. We show that determining an optimal restructuring is NP-hard, and propose and evaluate a greedy strategy. The framework has been implemented in the Scale research compiler, and instantiated for the specific problem of Constant Propagation. 1. Introduction Compiler optimization is tough, as epitomized by Proebst- ing’s Law [18]. But developers still want that extra 5-15% improvement in the running times of their applications, and the compiler optimizations are a safer alternative to manual optimizations carried out by developers which might intro- duce errors [19]. Data-flow analysis [1] is an integral part of any ag- gressive optimizing compiler. Code optimizations such as constant propagation, dead-code elimination, common sub- expression elimination, to nam