On the Use of Data Flow Analysis in Static Profiling

Abstract

Static profiling is a technique that produces estimates of execution likelihoods or frequencies based on source code analysis only. It is frequently used in determining cost/benefit ratios for certain compiler optimizations. In previous work,we introduced a simple algorithm to compute execution likelihoods,based on a control flow graph and heuristic branch prediction. In this paper we examine the benefits of using more involved analysis techniques in such a static profiler. In particular, we explore the use of value range propagation to improve the accuracy of the estimates, and we investigate the differences in estimating execution likelihoods and frequencies.