Transient variable caching in Java’s stack‐based intermediate representation

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Týma, Paul

Affiliations: Syracuse University, 26250 Euclid Ave. #503, Euclid, OH 44132, USA Tel.: +1 216 732 5895; Fax: +1 216 732 5897; E‐mail: ptyma@cat.syr.edu

Abstract: Java’s stack‐based intermediate representation (IR) is typically coerced to execute on register‐based architectures. Unoptimized compiled code dutifully replicates transient variable usage designated by the programmer and common optimization practices tend to introduce further usage (i.e., CSE, Loop‐invariant Code Motion, etc.). On register based machines, often transient variables are cached within registers (when available) saving the expense of actually accessing memory. Unfortunately, in stack‐based environments because of the need to push and pop the transient values, further performance improvement is possible. This paper presents Transient Variable Caching (TVC), a technique for eliminating transient variable overhead whenever possible. This optimization would find a likely home in optimizers attached to the back of popular Java compilers. Side effects of the algorithm include significant instruction reordering and introduction of many stack‐manipulation operations. This combination has proven to greatly impede the ability to decompile stack‐based IR code sequences. The code that results from the transform is faster, smaller, and greatly impedes decompilation.

Journal: Scientific Programming, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 157-166, 1999