Compiler optimization of memory-resident value communication between speculative threads

Antonia Zhai, Christopher B. Colohan, J. Gregory Steffan, Todd C. Mowry

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

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

Efficient inter-thread value communication is essential for improving performance in Thread-Level Speculation (TLS). Although several mechanisms for improving value communication using hardware support have been proposed, there is relatively little work on exploiting the potential of compiler optimization. Building on recent research on compiler optimization of scalar value communication between speculative threads, we propose compiler techniques for the optimization of memory-resident values. In TLS, data dependences through memory-resident values are tracked by the underlying hardware and preserved by re-executing any speculative thread that violates a dependence; however, re-execution incurs a large performance penalty and should be used only to resolve data dependences that are infrequent. In contrast, value communication for frequently-occurring data dependences must be very efficient. In this paper, we propose using the compiler to first identify frequently-occurring memory-resident data dependences, then insert synchronization for communicating values to preserve these dependences. We find that by synchronizing frequently-occurring data dependences we can significantly improve the efficiency of parallel execution. A comparison between compiler-inserted and hardware-inserted memory synchronization reveals that the two techniques are complementary, with each technique benefitting different benchmarks.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationInternational Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization, CGO 2004
Pages39-50
Number of pages12
StatePublished - 2004
EventInternational Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization, CGO 2004 - San Jose, CA, United States
Duration: Mar 20 2004Mar 24 2004

Publication series

NameInternational Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization, CGO

Other

OtherInternational Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization, CGO 2004
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Jose, CA
Period3/20/043/24/04

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