Memory-Hierarchy Management

The trend in high-performance microprocessor design is toward increasing computational power on the chip. Microprocessors can now process dramatically more data per machine cycle than previous models. Unfortunately, memory speeds have not kept pace. The result is an imbalance between computation speed and memory speed. This imbalance is leading machine designers to use more complicated memory hierarchies. In turn, programmers are explicitly restructuring codes to perform well on particular memory systems, leading to machine-specific programs. It is our belief that machine-specific programming is a step in the wrong direction. Compilers, not programmers, should handle machine-specific implementation details. To this end, this thesis develops and experiments with compiler algorithms that manage the memory hierarchy of a machine for floating-point intensive numerical codes. Specifically, we address the following issues: Scalar replacement. Lack of information concerning the flow of array..