GA-Based compiler parameter set tuning

Abstract

Determining nearly optimal optimization options for modern-day compilers is a combinatorial problem. Added to this, specific to a given application, platform and optimization objective, fine-tuning the parameter set being used by various optimization passes, enhance the complexity further. In this paper, we apply genetic algorithm (GA) to tune compiler parameter set and investigate the impact of fine-tuning the parameter set on the code size. The effectiveness of GA-based parameter tuning mechanism is demonstrated with the benchmark programs from SPEC2006 benchmark suite that there is a significant impact of tuning the parameter values on the code size. Results obtained by the proposed GA-based parameter tuning technique are compared with existing methods and that shows significant performance gains.