Designing a Compiler for a Distributed Memory Parallel Computing System

The SCMP processor presents a unique approach to processor design: integrating multiple processors, a network, and memory onto a single chip. The benefits to this design include a reduction in overhead incurred by synchronization, communication, and memory accesses. To properly determine its effectiveness, the SCMP architecture must be exercised under a wide variety of workloads, creating the need for a variety of applications. A compiler can relieve the time spent developing these applications by allowing the use of languages such as C and Fortran. However, compiler development is a research area in its own right, requiring extensive knowledge of the architecture to make good use of its resources.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a compiler for the SCMP architecture. The thesis includes an in-depth analysis of SCMP and the necessary design choices for an effective compiler using the SUIF and MachSUIF toolsets. Two optimizations passes are included in the discussion: partial redundancy elimination and instruction scheduling. While these optimizations are not specific to parallel computing, architectural considerations must still be made to properly implement the algorithms within the SCMP compiler. These optimizations yield an overall reduction in execution time of 15-36%.