Procedure placement using temporal-ordering information

Abstract

Instruction cache performance is important to instruction fetch efficiency and overall processor performance. The layout of an executable has a substantial effect on the cache miss rate and the instruction working set size during execution. This means that the performance of an executable can be improved by applying a code-placement algorithm that minimizes instruction cache conflicts and improves spatial locality. We describe an algorithm for procedure placement, one type of code placement, that signicantly differs from previous approaches in the type of information used to drive the placement algorithm. In particular, we gather temporal-ordering information that summarizes the interleaving of procedures in a program trace. Our algorithm uses this information along with cache configuration and procedure size information to better estimate the conflict cost of a potential procedure ordering. It optimizes the procedure placement for single level and multilevel caches. In addition to reducing instruction cache conflicts, the algorithm simultaneously minimizes the instruction working set size of the program. We compare the performance of our algorithm with a particularly successful procedure-placement algorithm and show noticeable improvements in the instruction cache behavior, while maintaining the same instruction working set size.