Data buffering: run-time versus compile-time support

Abstract

Data-dependency, branch, and memory-access penalties are main constraints on the performance of high-speed microprocessors. The memory-access penalties concern both penalties imposed by external memory (e.g. cache) or by under utilization of the local processor memory (e.g. registers). This paper focuses solely on methods of increasing the utilization of data memory, local to the processor (registers or register-oriented buffers).