Loop Dependence Analysis - Description

Description

Loop dependence analysis occur on a normalized loop of the form:

for i1 until U1 do for i2 until U2 do ... for in until Un do body done done done

where body may contain:

S1 a := ... ... S2 ... := a

Where a is an m-dimensional array and fn, hn, etc. are functions mapping from all iteration indexes (in) to a memory access in a particular dimension of the array.

For example, in C:

for (i = 0; i < U1; i++) for (j = 0; j < U2; j++) a = b + i*j;

f1 would be i+4-j, controlling the write on the first dimension of a and h2 would be 2*i-j, controlling the read on the first dimension of b.

The scope of the problem is to find all possible dependencies between S1 and S2. To be conservative, any dependence which cannot be proven false must be assumed to be true.

Independence is shown by demonstrating that no two instances of S1 and S2 access or modify the same spot in array a. When a possible dependence is found, loop dependence analysis usually makes every attempt to characterize the relationship between dependent instances, as some optimizations may still be possible. It may also be possible to transform the loop to remove or modify the dependence.

In the course of (dis)proving such dependencies, a statement S may be decomposed according to which iteration it comes from. For instance, S refers to the iteration where i1 = 1, i2 = 3 and i3 = 5. Of course, references to abstract iterations, such as S, are both permitted and common.

Read more about this topic:  Loop Dependence Analysis

Famous quotes containing the word description:

    I was here first introduced to Joe.... He was a good-looking Indian, twenty-four years old, apparently of unmixed blood, short and stout, with a broad face and reddish complexion, and eyes, methinks, narrower and more turned up at the outer corners than ours, answering to the description of his race. Besides his underclothing, he wore a red flannel shirt, woolen pants, and a black Kossuth hat, the ordinary dress of the lumberman, and, to a considerable extent, of the Penobscot Indian.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The great object in life is Sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain; it is this “craving void” which drives us to gaming, to battle, to travel, to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.
    George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)