Hardware-aware compilation

Hardware-aware compilers are in high demand for embedded systems with stringent multidimensional design constraints on cost, power, performance, etc. By making use of the microarchitectural information about a processor, a hardware-aware compiler can generate more efficient code than a generic compiler while meeting the design constraints, by exploiting those highly customized microarchitectural features. In this chapter, we introduce two applications of hardware-aware compilers: a hardware-aware compiler can be used as a production compiler and as a tool to efficiently explore the design space of embedded processors. We demonstrate the first application with a compiler that generates efficient code for embedded processors that do not have any branch predictor to reduce branch penalties. To demonstrate the second application, we show how a hardware-aware compiler can be used to explore the Design Space of the bypass designs in the processor. In both the cases, the hardware-aware compiler can generate better code than a hardware-ignorant compiler.