Bridging the Compiler-Simulator Gap: Faster and Easier Hardware/Software Optimization

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Making computers go fast requires optimizing software that exploits thehardware. Exploring new hardware ideas requires hardware simulators, ANDoptimizing software matching the imagined hardware. It is time-consumingand error-prone to build these and get them to match. The CoGenT project isautomating the building of simulators and matching software tools, so thatmore people can explore more ideas, more quickly, for modern computers andprogramming languages.CoGenT, which stands for Co-Generation of (simulation and compilation)Tools, with machine descriptions. From instruction format, execution, andtiming information, we produce predictive simulators for Java programs onthe described hardware. The Java system includes optimizing andnon-optimizing compilers, and we retarget both compilers to the targethardware. We do this by using the same description forms for the compiler'sabstract machine as for the hardware target. We generate code generationrules by searching for target instructions to match each possible abstractcode fragment. We are also concerned with automated construction of therest of the compiler back end, and with efficiency of the simulators we build.While certain hardware innovations clearly demand entirely new techniquesto exploit them effectively, we automate those aspects addressed in theexisting optimizing compiler. Our contributions lie in the increased degreeof automation and integration of the techniques, and in improved simulatorperformance. While the primary setting is simulation, the results areuseful in compiler retargeting, dynamic binary translation, and beyond.