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Concept
Loop optimization
Summary
In compiler theory, loop optimization is the process of increasing execution speed and reducing the overheads associated with loops. It plays an important role in improving cache performance and making effective use of parallel processing capabilities. Most execution time of a scientific program is spent on loops; as such, many compiler optimization techniques have been developed to make them faster.
Since instructions inside loops can be executed repeatedly, it is frequently not possible to give a bound on the number of instruction executions that will be impacted by a loop optimization. This presents challenges when reasoning about the correctness and benefits of a loop optimization, specifically the representations of the computation being optimized and the optimization(s) being performed.
Loop optimization can be viewed as the application of a sequence of specific loop transformations (listed below or in Compiler transformations for high-performance computing) to the source code or intermediate representation, with each transformation having an associated test for legality. A transformation (or sequence of transformations) generally must preserve the temporal sequence of all dependencies if it is to preserve the result of the program (i.e., be a legal transformation). Evaluating the benefit of a transformation or sequence of transformations can be quite difficult within this approach, as the application of one beneficial transformation may require the prior use of one or more other transformations that, by themselves, would result in reduced performance.
Common loop transformations include:
Fission or distribution – loop fission attempts to break a loop into multiple loops over the same index range, but each new loop takes only part of the original loop's body. This can improve locality of reference, both of the data being accessed in the loop and the code in the loop's body.
Fusion or combining – this combines the bodies of two adjacent loops that would iterate the same number of times (whether or not that number is known at compile time), as long as they make no reference to each other's data.
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