alto: A Link-Time Optimizer for the DEC Alpha
Department of Computer Science
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.
Koen De Bosschere
Vakgroep Elektronica en Informatiesystemen
Universiteit Gent
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Traditional optimizing compilers are limited in the scope of their optimizations by the fact that only a single function, or possibly a single module, is available for analysis and optimization. In particular, this means that library routines cannot be optimized to specific calling contexts. A possible solution is to carry out whole-program optimization at link time. This paper describes alto, a link-time optimizer for the DEC Alpha architecture. It implements a number of simple analyses and optimizations, and produces code that is, on the average, significantly faster than that produced by the OM link-time optimizer.