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Jeffrey M. Barth

Research and Advances Sep 1 1978

A practical interprocedural data flow analysis algorithm

A new interprocedural data flow analysis algorithm is presented and analyzed. The algorithm associates with each procedure in a program information about which variables may be modified, which may be used, and which are possibly preserved by a call on the procedure, and all of its subcalls. The algorithm is sufficiently powerful to be used on recursive programs and to deal with the sharing of variables which arises through reference parameters. The algorithm is unique in that it can compute all of this information in a single pass, not requiring a prepass to compute calling relationships or sharing patterns. The algorithm is asymptotically optimal in time complexity. It has been implemented and is practical even on programs which are quite large.
Systems and Networking

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Author Archives

Research and Advances Jul 1 1977

Shifting garbage collection overhead to compile time

This paper discusses techniques which enable automatic storage reclamation overhead to be partially shifted to compile time. The paper assumes a transaction oriented collection scheme, as proposed by Deutsch and Bobrow, the necessary features of which are summarized. Implementing the described optimizations requires global flow analysis to be performed on the source program. It is shown that at compile time certain program actions that affect the reference counts of cells can be deduced. This information is used to find actions that cancel when the code is executed and those that can be grouped to achieve improved efficiency.

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