Research Article

The effectiveness of producer-side machine-independent optimizations for mobile code

  1. Wolfram Amme1,
  2. Jeffery von Ronne2,*,
  3. Philipp Adler1,
  4. Michael Franz3

Article first published online: 15 APR 2009

DOI: 10.1002/spe.921

Issue

Software: Practice and Experience

Software: Practice and Experience

Volume 39, Issue 10, pages 923–946, July 2009

Additional Information

How to Cite

Amme, W., von Ronne, J., Adler, P. and Franz, M. (2009), The effectiveness of producer-side machine-independent optimizations for mobile code. Software: Practice and Experience, 39: 923–946. doi: 10.1002/spe.921

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany

  2. 2

    Department of Computer Science, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.

  3. 3

    Department of Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, U.S.A.

*Department of Computer Science, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, U.S.A.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 10 JUN 2009
  2. Article first published online: 15 APR 2009
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 11 FEB 2009
  4. Manuscript Revised: 9 FEB 2009
  5. Manuscript Received: 1 APR 2008

Funded by

  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Grant Numbers: AM-150/1-1, AM-150/1-3
  • Air Force Research Laboratory. Grant Number: F30602-02-1-0001

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Keywords:

  • machine-independent optimization;
  • register pressure;
  • mobile code;
  • SafeTSA

Abstract

Portable mobile code is often executed by a host virtual machine using just-in-time compilation. In this context, the compilation time in the host virtual machine is critical. This compilation time can be reduced if optimizations are performed ahead-of-time before distribution of the mobile code. Unfortunately, the portable nature of mobile code limits ahead-of-time optimizations to those that are machine-independent. This work examines the effect of machine-independent optimizations on the performance of mobile code applications. All experiments use the SafeTSA Format, a mobile code format that is based on Static Single Assignment Form (SSA Form). The experiments, which are performed on both the PowerPC and IA32 architectures, indicate that the effects of performing classical machine-independent optimizations are—in fact—quite machine-dependent. Nevertheless, the results demonstrate that applying such optimizations in a mobile code system can be beneficial. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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