Efficient spill code for SDRAM

Processors such as StrongARM and memory such as SDRAM enable efficient execution of multiple loads and stores in a single instruction. This is particularly useful in connection with register allocation where spill code may need to save and restore multiple registers. Until now, there has been no effective strategy for utilizing this to its full potential. In this paper we investigate the use of SDRAM for optimization of spill code. The core of the problem is to arrange the variables in the spill area such that loading to and storing from the SDRAM is optimally efficient. We show that the problem is NP-complete and present a method based on integer linear programming (ILP) to solve the problem. We have implemented our approach as an additional phase in a gcc-based compiler for the StrongARM core of Intel's IXP

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2003
• Where: CASES
• Authors: V. Krishna Nandivada, Jens Palsberg
• Keywords: CASES 2003, Integer Linear Programming, SDRAM, Spill Code, System Software