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Chapter: Compilers : Principles, Techniques, & Tools : Machine-Independent Optimizations

Constant Propagation

1 Data-Flow Values for the Constant-Propagation Frame-work 2 The Meet for the Constant-Propagation Framework 3 Transfer Functions for the Constant-Propagation Frame-work 4 Monotonicity of the Constant-Propagation Framework 5 Nondistributivity of the Constant-Propagation Framework 6 Interpretation of the Results 7 Exercises for Section 9.4

Constant Propagation

 

1 Data-Flow Values for the Constant-Propagation Frame-work

2 The Meet for the Constant-Propagation Framework

3 Transfer Functions for the Constant-Propagation Frame-work

4 Monotonicity of the Constant-Propagation Framework

5 Nondistributivity of the Constant-Propagation Framework

6 Interpretation of the Results

7 Exercises for Section 9.4

 

All the data-flow schemas discussed in Section 9.2 are actually simple examples of distributive frameworks with finite height. Thus, the iterative Algorithm 9.25 applies to them in either its forward or backward version and produces the MOP solution in each case. In this section, we shall examine in detail a useful data-flow framework with more interesting properties.

 

Recall that constant propagation, or "constant folding," replaces expressions that evaluate to the same constant every time they are executed, by that con-stant. The constant-propagation framework described below is different from all the data-flow problems discussed so far, in that

 

 

            it has an unbounded set of possible data-flow values, even for a fixed flow graph, and it is not distributive.

            Constant propagation is a forward data-flow problem. The semilattice rep-resenting the data-flow values and the family of transfer functions are presented next.

 

1. Data-Flow Values for the Constant-Propagation Framework

 

The set of data-flow values is a product lattice, with one component for each variable in a program. The lattice for a single variable consists of the following:

 

1. All constants appropriate for the type of the variable.

 

            The value N A C , which stands for not-a-constant. A variable is mapped to this value if it is determined not to have a constant value. The variable may have been assigned an input value, or derived from a variable that is not a constant, or assigned different constants along different paths that lead to the same program point.

 

3. The value U N D E F , which stands for undefined. A variable is assigned this value if nothing may yet be asserted; presumably, no definition of the variable has been discovered to reach the point in question.

 

Note that N A C and U N D E F are not the same; they are essentially opposites. N A C says we have seen so many ways a variable could be defined that we know it is not constant; U N D E F says we have seen so little about the variable that we cannot say anything at all.

 

The semilattice for a typical integer-valued variable is shown in Fig. 9.25.

 

Here the top element is U N D E F , and the bottom element is N A C . That is, the greatest value in the partial order is U N D E F and the least is N A C . The constant values are unordered, but they are all less than UNDEF  and greater than NAC .

 

As discussed in Section 9.3.1, the meet of two values is their greatest lower bound. Thus, for all values v,


A data-flow value for this framework is a map from each variable in the program to one of the values in the constant semilattice. The value of a variable v in a map m is denoted by m(v).

 

2. The Meet for the Constant-Propagation Framework

 

The semilattice of data-flow values is simply the product of the semilattices like Fig. 9.25, one for each variable.  Thus, m < m' if and only if for all variables v we have m(v)  <  m'(v).  Put  another way,  mAm' =  m"  if m"(v) =  m(v)Am'(v) for all variables v.


 

3. Transfer Functions for the Constant-Propagation Framework

 

We assume in the following that a basic block contains only one statement. Transfer functions for basic blocks containing several statements can be con-structed by composing the functions corresponding to individual statements.

The set F consists of certain transfer functions that accept a map of variables to values in the constant lattice and return another such map .

F contains the identity function,  which takes a map as input and returns the same map as output.  F also contains the constant transfer function for the E N T R Y  node. This transfer function, given any input map, returns a map mo, where mo(v) = U N D E F ,  for all variables v.  This boundary condition makes sense, because before executing any program statements there are no definitions for any variables.

In general, let fs    be the transfer function of statement s, and let m and m' represent data-flow values such that m' = f(m). We shall describe /s    in terms of the relationship between m and m'. 

1. If s is not an assignment statement, then fs   is simply the identity function.

2. If s is an assignment to variable x,  then m'(v) = m(v),  for all variables  v ^ x, provided one of the following conditions holds:

 If the right-hand-side (RHS) of the statement s is a constant c, then m'(x) = c.

(b)  If the RHS is of the form y + z, then 


(c) If the RHS is any other expression (e.g. a function call or assignment through a pointer), then m'(x) = N A C .

As usual, + represents a generic operator, not necessarily addition.

 

4. Monotonicity of the Constant-Propagation Framework

 

Let us show that the constant propagation framework is monotone. First, we can consider the effect of a function fs on a single variable. In all but case 2(b), f8 either does not change the value of m(x), or it changes the map to return a constant or N A C . In these cases, /s must surely be monotone.

 

For case 2(b), the effect of fs is tabulated in Fig 9.26. The first and second columns represent the possible input values of y and z1 the last represents the output value of x. The values are ordered from the greatest to the smallest in each column or sub column. To show that the function is monotone, we check that for each possible input value of y, the value of x does not get bigger as the value of z gets smaller. For example, in the case where y has a constant value ci, as the value of z varies from U N D E F to c 2 to N A C , the value of x varies from U N D E F , to ci + c 2 , and then to N A C , respectively. We can repeat this procedure for all the possible values of y. Because of symmetry, we do not even need to repeat the procedure for the second operand before we conclude that the output value cannot get larger as the input gets smaller.



5. Nondistributivity of the Constant-Propagation Framework

 

The constant-propagation framework as defined is monotone but not distribu-tive. That is, the iterative solution MFP is safe but may be smaller than the MOP solution. An example will prove that the framework is not distributive.

 

Example 9 . 2 6 : In the program in Fig. 9.27, x and y are set to 2 and 3 in block Bi, and to 3 and 2, respectively, in block B2.  We know that regardless of which path is taken, the value of z at the end of block B3 is 5.  The iterative algorithm does not discover this fact, however.  Rather, it applies the meet operator at the entry of B3, getting as the values of x and y. Since adding two


Figure 9.27: An example demonstrating that the constant propagation frame-work is not distributive

 

yields a NAC, the output produced by Algorithm 9.25 is that z — NAC at the exit of the program. This result is safe, but imprecise. Algorithm 9.25 is imprecise

 

because it does not keep track of the correlation that whenever x is 2, y is 3,

 

and vice versa. It is possible, but significantly more expensive, to use a more complex framework that tracks all the possible equalities that hold among pairs of expressions involving the variables in the program; this approach is discussed in Exercise 9.4.2.

 

Theoretically, we can attribute this loss of precision to the nondistributivity of the  constant  propagation  framework. Let  f1 ,  f2,  and  fa  be  the  transfer functions representing blocks B1, B2 and B3, respectively. As shown in Fig 9.28,


 

6. Interpretation of the Results

 

The value U N D E F is used in the iterative algorithm for two purposes: to initialize the E N T R Y node and to initialize the interior points of the program before the iterations. The meaning is slightly different in the two cases. The first says that variables are undefined at the beginning of the program execution; the second says that for lack of information at the beginning of the iterative process, we approximate  the  solution  with the top element UNDEF .    At the  end of the iterative process, the variables at the exit of the ENTRY  node will still hold the U N D E F  value, since OUT [ ENTRY ] never changes.  

It  is possible that  U N D E F ' S may show up  at some other program points.

When they do, it means that no definitions have been observed for that variable along any of the paths leading up to that program point. Notice that with the way we define the meet operator, as long as there exists a path that defines a variable reaching a program point, the variable will not have an U N D E F value. If all the definitions reaching a program point have the same constant value, the variable is considered a constant even though it may not be defined along some program path.

 

By assuming that the program is correct, the algorithm can find more con-stants than it otherwise would. That is, the algorithm conveniently chooses some values for those possibly undefined variables in order to make the pro-gram more efficient. This change is legal in most programming languages, since undefined variables are allowed to take on any value. If the language semantics requires that all undefined variables be given some specific value, then we must change our problem formulation accordingly. And if instead we are interested in finding possibly undefined variables in a program, we can formulate a different data-flow analysis to provide that result (see Exercise 9.4.1).  

 

Example 9 . 2 7 : In Fig. 9.29, the values of x are 10 and U N D E F at the exit of basic blocks B2    and B$, respectively. Since U N D E F A 10 = 10, the value of x is 10 on entry to block B4.  Thus, block B5, where x is used, can be optimized by replacing x by 10. Had the path executed been B1 -» Bs -> B4 -» B5, the value of x reaching basic block B5 would have been undefined. So, it appears incorrect to replace the use of x by 10.

However, if it is impossible for predicate Q to be false while Q' is true, then this execution path never occurs. While the programmer may be aware of that fact, it may well be beyond the capability of any data-flow analysis to determine. Thus, if we assume that the program is correct and that all the variables are defined before they are used, it is indeed correct that the value of x at the beginning of basic block B5    can only be  10.  And if the program  is incorrect to begin with, then choosing 10 as the value of x cannot be worse than allowing x to assume some random value.

 

7. Exercises for Section 9.4

 

Exercise 9 . 4 . 1 :  Suppose we wish to detect all possibility of a variable being


uninitialized along any path to a point where it is used. How would you modify the framework of this section to detect such situations?

 

Exercise 9 . 4 . 2 : An interesting and powerful data-flow-analysis framework is obtained by imagining the domain V to be all possible partitions of expressions, so that two expressions are in the same class if and only if they are certain to have the same value along any path to the point in question. To avoid having to list an infinity of expressions, we can represent V by listing only the minimal pairs of equivalent expressions. For example, if we execute the statements

 

a  =  b

 

c  =  a +  d

 

then the minimal set of equivalences is {a = 6, c = a + d}. From these follow other equivalences, such as c = b + d and a + e = b + e, but there is no need to list these explicitly.

 

a) What is the appropriate meet operator for this framework?

 

b) Give a data structure to represent domain values and an algorithm to implement the meet operator.

 

c) What are the appropriate functions to associate with statements? Explain the effect that a statement such as a = b+c should have on a partition of expressions (i.e., on a value in V).

 

d)  Is this framework monotone?  Distributive?


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