Studying Compiler-Microarchitecture Interactions through Interval Analysis

In practice, the only way that the performance gain (or loss) for a given compiler optimization can be determined is by running optimized programs on the hardware and timing them. This method, while useful, does not provide insight regarding the underlying causes for performance gain/loss. By using the recently proposed method of interval analysis, one can decompose total execution time into intuitively meaningful cycle components. These components include a base cycle count, which is a measure of the time required to execute the program in the absence of all disruptive miss events, along with additional cycle counts for each type of miss event. Performance gain (or loss) resulting from a compiler optimization can then be attributed to either the base cycle count or to specific miss event(s).