Code Generation

MS.R.SHANTHI PRABHA M.Sc., M.Phil.,

Assistant professor
department of computer science
sacwc.
Outline
Code Generation Issues
Target language Issues
Addresses in Target Code
Basic Blocks and Flow Graphs
Optimizations of Basic Blocks
A Simple Code Generator
Peephole optimization
Register allocation and assignment
Instruction selection by tree rewriting
Introduction
The final phase of a compiler is code generator
It receives an intermediate representation (IR) with
supplementary information in symbol table
Produces a semantically equivalent target program
Code generator main tasks:
 Instruction selection
 Register allocation and assignment
 Insrtuction ordering

Front Code
Code optimizer
end Generator
Issues in the Design of Code
Generator
The most important criterion is that it produces correct
code
Input to the code generator
 IR + Symbol table
 We assume front end produces low-level IR, i.e. values of
names in it can be directly manipulated by the machine
instructions.
 Syntactic and semantic errors have been already detected
The target program
 Common target architectures are: RISC, CISC and Stack
based machines
 In this chapter we use a very simple RISC-like computer with
addition of some CISC-like addressing modes
complexity of mapping
the level of the IR

the nature of the instruction-set architecture

the desired quality of the generated code.

a=b+c
x=y+z d=a+e
LD R0, y LD R0, b
ADD R0, R0, z ADD R0, R0, c
ST x, R0 ST a, R0
LD R0, a
ADD R0, R0, e
ST d, R0
Register allocation
 Two subproblems
 Register allocation: selecting the set of variables that will reside in
registers at each point in the program
 Resister assignment: selecting specific register that a variable
reside in
 Complications imposed by the hardware architecture
 Example: register pairs for multiplication and division

t=a+b t=a+b
t=t*c t=t+c
T=t/d T=t/d
L R0, a
L R1, a A R0, b
A R1, b M R0, c
M R0, c SRDA R0, 32
D R0, d D R0, d
ST R1, t ST R1, t
A simple target machine model
Load operations: LD r,x and LD r1, r2
Store operations: ST x,r
Computation operations: OP dst, src1, src2
Unconditional jumps: BR L
Conditional jumps: Bcond r, L like BLTZ r, L
Addressing Modes
variable name: x

indexed address: a(r) like LD R1, a(R2) means

R1=contents(a+contents(R2))
integer indexed by a register : like LD R1, 100(R2)

Indirect addressing mode: *r and *100(r)

immediate constant addressing mode: like LD R1,

#100
b = a [i]
LD R1, i //R1 = i
MUL R1, R1, 8 //R1 = Rl * 8
LD R2, a(R1)
//R2=contents(a+contents(R1))
ST b, R2 //b = R2
a[j] = c
LD R1, c //R1 = c
LD R2, j // R2 = j
MUL R2, R2, 8 //R2 = R2 * 8
ST a(R2), R1
//contents(a+contents(R2))=R1
x=*p
LD R1, p //R1 = p
LD R2, 0(R1) // R2 =
contents(0+contents(R1))
ST x, R2 // x=R2
conditional-jump three-address instruction
If x<y goto L
LD R1, x // R1 = x
LD R2, y // R2 = y
SUB R1, R1, R2 // R1 = R1 - R2
BLTZ R1, M // i f R1 < 0 jump t o M
costs associated with the addressing modes

LD R0, R1 cost = 1

LD R0, M cost = 2
LD R1, *100(R2) cost = 3
Addresses in the Target Code
A statically determined area Code

A statically determined data area Static

A dynamically managed area Heap

A dynamically managed area Stack

three-address statements for
procedure calls and returns
call callee

Return

Halt

action
Target program for a sample call and return
Stack Allocation

Branch to called procedure

Return to caller
in Callee: BR *0(SP)
in caller: SUB SP, SP, #caller.recordsize
Target code for stack allocation
Basic blocks and flow graphs
Partition the intermediate code into basic blocks
The flow of control can only enter the basic block
through the first instruction in the block. That is, there
are no jumps into the middle of the block.
Control will leave the block without halting or
branching, except possibly at the last instruction in the
block.
The basic blocks become the nodes of a flow graph
rules for finding leaders
The first three-address instruction in the
intermediate code is a leader.
Any instruction that is the target of a conditional or
unconditional jump is a leader.
Any instruction that immediately follows a
conditional or unconditional jump is a leader.
Intermediate code to set a 10*10 matrix
to an identity matrix
Flow graph based on Basic Blocks
liveness and next-use information
We wish to determine for each three address statement
x=y+z what the next uses of x, y and z are.
Algorithm:
Attach to statement i the information currently found in
the symbol table regarding the next use and liveness of x,
y, and z.
In the symbol table, set x to "not live" and "no next use.“
In the symbol table, set y and z to "live" and the next uses
of y and z to i.
DAG representation of basic
blocks
There is a node in the DAG for each of the initial values
of the variables appearing in the basic block.
There is a node N associated with each statement s
within the block. The children of N are those nodes
corresponding to statements that are the last definitions,
prior to s, of the operands used by s.
Node N is labeled by the operator applied at s, and also
attached to N is the list of variables for which it is the
last definition within the block.
Certain nodes are designated output nodes. These are
the nodes whose variables are live on exit from the block.
Code improving transformations
We can eliminate local common subexpressions, that
is, instructions that compute a value that has already
been computed.
We can eliminate dead code, that is, instructions that
compute a value that is never used.
We can reorder statements that do not depend on
one another; such reordering may reduce the time a
temporary value needs to be preserved in a register.
We can apply algebraic laws to reorder operands of
three-address instructions, and sometimes t hereby
simplify t he computation.
DAG for basic block
DAG for basic block
array accesses in a DAG
An assignment from an array, like x = a [i], is represented by
creating a node with operator =[] and two children representing
the initial value of the array, a0 in this case, and the index i.
Variable x becomes a label of this new node.
An assignment to an array, like a [j] = y, is represented by a new
node with operator []= and three children representing a0, j and
y. There is no variable labeling this node. What is different is
that the creation of this node kills all currently constructed
nodes whose value depends on a0. A node that has been killed
cannot receive any more labels; that is, it cannot become a
common subexpression.
DAG for a sequence of array assignments
Rules for reconstructing the basic block
from a DAG
 The order of instructions must respect the order of nodes in the DAG.
That is, we cannot compute a node's value until we have computed a
value for each of its children.
 Assignments to an array must follow all previous assignments to, or
evaluations from, the same array, according to the order of these
instructions in the original basic block.
 Evaluations of array elements must follow any previous (according to the
original block) assignments to the same array. The only permutation
allowed is that two evaluations from the same array may be done in either
order, as long as neither crosses over an assignment to that array.
 Any use of a variable must follow all previous (according to the original
block) procedure calls or indirect assignments through a pointer.
 Any procedure call or indirect assignment through a pointer must follow
all previous (according to the original block) evaluations of any variable.
principal uses of registers
In most machine architectures, some or all of the
operands of an operation must be in registers in order
to perform the operation.
Registers make good temporaries - places to hold the
result of a subexpression while a larger expression is
being evaluated, or more generally, a place to hold a
variable that is used only within a single basic block.
Registers are often used to help with run-time storage
management, for example, to manage the run-time
stack, including the maintenance of stack pointers
and possibly the top elements of the stack itself.
Descriptors for data structure
For each available register, a register descriptor keeps track of
the variable names whose current value is in that register. Since
we shall use only those registers that are available for local use
within a basic block, we assume that initially, all register
descriptors are empty. As the code generation progresses, each
register will hold the value of zero or more names.
For each program variable, an address descriptor keeps track of
the location or locations where the current value of that
variable can be found. The location might be a register, a
memory address, a stack location, or some set of more than one
of these. The information can be stored in the symbol-table
entry for that variable name.
Machine Instructions for Operations
Use getReg(x = y + z) to select registers for x, y, and z.
Call these Rx, Ry and Rz.
If y is not in Ry (according to the register descriptor
for Ry), then issue an instruction LD Ry, y', where y' is
one of the memory locations for y (according to the
address descriptor for y).
Similarly, if z is not in Rz, issue and instruction LD Rz,
z', where z' is a location for x .
Issue the instruction ADD Rx , Ry, Rz.
Rules for updating the register and address descriptors
 For the instruction LD R, x
 Change the register descriptor for register R so it holds only x.
 Change the address descriptor for x by adding register R as an additional
location.
 For the instruction ST x, R, change the address descriptor for x to
include its own memory location.
 For an operation such as ADD Rx, Ry, Rz implementing a three-address
instruction x = y + x
 Change the register descriptor for Rx so that it holds only x.
 Change the address descriptor for x so that its only location is R x. Note
that the memory location for x is not now in the address descriptor for x.
 Remove Rx from the address descriptor of any variable other than x.
 When we process a copy statement x = y, after generating the load for y
into register Ry, if needed, and after managing descriptors as for all load
statements (per rule I):
 Add x to the register descriptor for R y.
 Change the address descriptor for x so that its only location is R y .
Instructions generated and the changes in the
register and address descriptors
Rules for picking register Ry for y
If y is currently in a register, pick a register already
containing y as Ry. Do not issue a machine instruction
to load this register, as none is needed.
If y is not in a register, but there is a register that is
currently empty, pick one such register as Ry.
The difficult case occurs when y is not in a register,
and there is no register that is currently empty. We
need to pick one of the allowable registers anyway,
and we need to make it safe to reuse.
Possibilities for value of R
If the address descriptor for v says that v is somewhere besides R,
then we are OK.
If v is x, the value being computed by instruction I, and x is not
also one of the other operands of instruction I (z in this example),
then we are OK. The reason is that in this case, we know this value
of x is never again going to be used, so we are free to ignore it.
Otherwise, if v is not used later (that is, after the instruction I,
there are no further uses of v, and if v is live on exit from the block,
then v is recomputed within the block), then we are OK.
If we are not OK by one of the first two cases, then we need to
generate the store instruction ST v, R to place a copy of v in its
own memory location. This operation is called a spill.
Selection of the register Rx
1. Since a new value of x is being computed, a register
that holds only x is always an acceptable choice for
Rx.
2. If y is not used after instruction I, and Ry holds only
y after being loaded, Ry can also be used as Rx. A
similar option holds regarding z and Rx.
Possibilities for value of R
If the address descriptor for v says that v is somewhere besides R,
then we are OK.
If v is x, the value being computed by instruction I, and x is not
also one of the other operands of instruction I (z in this example),
then we are OK. The reason is that in this case, we know this value
of x is never again going to be used, so we are free to ignore it.
Otherwise, if v is not used later (that is, after the instruction I,
there are no further uses of v, and if v is live on exit from the block,
then v is recomputed within the block), then we are OK.
If we are not OK by one of the first two cases, then we need to
generate the store instruction ST v, R to place a copy of v in its
own memory location. This operation is called a spill.
Characteristic of peephole optimizations

Redundant-instruction elimination
Flow-of-control optimizations
Algebraic simplifications
Use of machine idioms
Redundant-instruction elimination
LD a, R0
ST R0, a
if debug == 1 goto L1
goto L2
L I : print debugging information
L2:
Flow-of-control optimizations
goto L1 if a<b goto L1
... ...
Ll: goto L2 Ll: goto L2

Can be replaced by: Can be replaced by:

goto L2 if a<b goto L2
... ...
Ll: goto L2 Ll: goto L2
Algebraic simplifications
x=x+0

x=x*1
Register Allocation and Assignment
Global Register Allocation
Usage Counts
Register Assignment for Outer Loops
Register Allocation by Graph Coloring
Global register allocation
Previously explained algorithm does local (block based)
register allocation
This resulted that all live variables be stored at the end of
block
To save some of these stores and their corresponding
loads, we might arrange to assign registers to frequently
used variables and keep these registers consistent across
block boundaries (globally)
Some options are:
 Keep values of variables used in loops inside registers
 Use graph coloring approach for more globally allocation
Usage counts
For the loops we can approximate the saving by
register allocation as:
Sum over all blocks (B) in a loop (L)
For each uses of x before any definition in the block we
add one unit of saving
If x is live on exit from B and is assigned a value in B,
then we ass 2 units of saving
Flow graph of an inner loop
Code sequence using global register
assignment
Register allocation by Graph
coloring
Two passes are used
Target-machine instructions are selected as though
there are an infinite number of symbolic registers
Assign physical registers to symbolic ones
 Create a register-interference graph
 Nodes are symbolic registers and edges connects two nodes if

one is live at a point where the other is defined.

 For example in the previous example an edge connects a and

d in the graph
 Use a graph coloring algorithm to assign registers.
Intermediate-code tree for a[i]=b+1
Tree-rewriting rules
Syntax-directed translation scheme
An instruction set for tree matching
Ershov Numbers
Label any leaf 1.
The label of an interior node with one child is the
label of its child.
The label of an interior node with two children is
The larger of the labels of its children, if those labels are
different.
One plus the label of its children if the labels are the
same.
A tree labeled with Ershov numbers
Generating code from a labeled expression tree
 To generate machine code for an interior node with label k and two children
with equal labels (which must be k - l) do the following:
 Recursively generate code for the right child, using base b+1. The result of the
right child appears in register Rb+k.
 Recursively generate code for the left child, using base b; the result appears in
Rb+k-1.
 Generate the instruction OP Rb+k, Rb+k-1, Rb+k, where OP is the appropriate
operation for the interior node in question.
 Suppose we have an interior node with label k and children with unequal
labels. Then one of the children, which we'll call the "big" child, has label k ,
and the other child, the "little" child, has some label m < k. Do the following to
generate code for this interior node, using base b:
 Recursively generate code for the big child, using base b; the result appears in
register Rb+k-l.
 Recursively generate code for the small child, using base b; the result appears in
register Rb+m-l. Note that since m < k, neither Rb+k-l nor any higher-numbered
register is used.
 Generate the instruction OP Rb+k-l, Rb+m-l, Rb+k-1 or the instruction OP Rb+k-l, Rb+k-l,
Rb+m+l, depending on whether the big child is the right or left child, respectively.
 For a leaf representing operand x, if the base is b generate the instruction LD
Rb, x.
Optimal three-register code
Evaluating Expressions with an
Insufficient Supply of Registers
 Node N has at least one child with label r or greater. Pick the larger child
(or either if their labels are the same) to be the "big" child and let the
other child be the "little" child.
 Recursively generate code for the big child, using base b = 1. The result of
this evaluation will appear in register R r
 Generate the machine instruction ST t k, Rr, where tk is a temporary
variable used for temporary results used to help evaluate nodes with label
k.
 Generate code for the little child as follows. If the little child has label r or
greater, pick base b=1. If the label of the little child is j<r, then pick b=r-j.
Then recursively apply this algorithm to the little child; the result appears
in Rr.
 Generate the instruction LD Rr-l, tk.
 If the big child is the right child of N, then generate the instruction OP R r,
Rr, Rr-1. If the big child is the left child, generate OP R r, Rr-1, Rr.
Optimal three-register code
using only two registers
Dynamic Programming Algorithm
Compute bottom-up for each node n of the expression tree T an
array C of costs, in which the ith component C[i] is the optimal
cost of computing the subtree S rooted at n into a register,
assuming i registers are available
 1  i  r for
for the computation,
Traverse T, using the cost vectors to determine which subtrees
of T must be computed into memory.
Traverse each tree using the cost vectors and associated
instructions to generate the final target code. The code for the
subtrees computed into memory locations is generated first.
Syntax tree for (a-b)+c*(d/e) with
cost vector at each node
minimum cost of evaluating the
root with two registers available
Compute the left subtree with two registers available into
register R0, compute the right subtree with one register
available into register R1, and use the instruction ADD R0, R0,
R1 to compute the root. This sequence has cost 2+5+1=8.
Compute the right subtree with two registers available into R
l , compute the left subtree with one register available into R0,
and use the instruction ADD R0, R0, R1. This sequence has cost
4+2+1=7.
Compute the right subtree into memory location M, compute
the left subtree with two registers available into register RO,
and use the instruction ADD R0, R0, M. This sequence has cost
5+2+1=8.