Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

A Formal Foundation for Trace-Based JIT Compilers

Vandercammen, Maarten and Nicolay, Jens and Marr, Stefan and De Koster, Joeri and D'Hondt, Theo and De Roover, Coen (2015) A Formal Foundation for Trace-Based JIT Compilers. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Dynamic Analysis. ICSE International Conference on Software Engineering . ACM, New York, USA, pp. 25-30. ISBN 978-1-4503-3909-4. (doi:10.1145/2823363.2823369) (KAR id:63824)

Abstract

Trace-based JIT compilers identify frequently executed program paths at run-time and subsequently record, compile and optimize their execution. In order to improve the performance of the generated machine instructions, JIT compilers heavily rely on dynamic analysis of the code. Existing work treats the components of a JIT compiler as a monolithic whole, tied to particular execution semantics. We propose a formal framework that facilitates the design and implementation of a tracing JIT compiler and its accompanying dynamic analyses by decoupling the tracing, optimization, and interpretation processes. This results in a framework that is more configurable and extensible than existing formal tracing models. We formalize the tracer and interpreter as two abstract state machines that communicate through a minimal, well-defined interface. Developing a tracing JIT compiler becomes possible for arbitrary interpreters that implement this interface. The abstract machines also provide the necessary hooks to plug in custom analyses and optimizations.

Item Type: Book section
DOI/Identification number: 10.1145/2823363.2823369
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics (inc Computing science) > QA 76 Software, computer programming,
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Computing
Depositing User: Stefan Marr
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2017 23:13 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:49 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/63824 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.