Code generators for mathematical functions

Best paper awardInternational audienceA typical floating-point environment includes sup-port for a small set of about 30 mathematical functions such as exponential, logarithms and trigonometric functions. These functions are provided by mathematical software libraries (libm), typically in IEEE754 single, double and quad precision. This article suggests to replace this libm paradigm by a more general approach: the on-demand generation of numerical func-tion code, on arbitrary domains and with arbitrary accuracies. First, such code generation opens up the libm function space available to programmers. It may capture a much wider set of functions, and may capture even standard functions on non-standard domains and accuracy/performance points. Second, writing libm code requires fine-tuned instruction selec-tion and scheduling for performance, and sophisticated floating-point techniques for accuracy. Automating this task through code generation improves confidence in the code while enabling better design space exploration, and therefore better time to market, even for the libm functions. This article discusses, with examples, the new challenges of this paradigm shift, and presents the current state of open-source function code generators