Add lots more info

git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@4450 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
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Chris Lattner 2002-10-30 06:04:46 +00:00
parent b246cee5fb
commit cc0b0c59e8

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@ -25,28 +25,60 @@ implementation notes, design decisions, and other stuff.
II. Architecture / Design Decisions
===================================
We designed the infrastructure for the machine specific representation to be as
light-weight as possible, while also being able to support as many targets as
possible with our framework. This framework should allow us to share many
common machine specific transformations (register allocation, instruction
scheduling, etc...) among all of the backends that may eventually be supported
by the JIT, and unify the JIT and static compiler backends.
We designed the infrastructure into the generic LLVM machine specific
representation, which allows us to support as many targets as possible with our
framework. This framework should allow us to share many common machine specific
transformations (register allocation, instruction scheduling, etc...) among all
of the backends that may eventually be supported by LLVM, and ensures that the
JIT and static compiler backends are largely shared.
At the high-level, LLVM code is translated to a machine specific representation
formed out of MFunction, MBasicBlock, and MInstruction instances (defined in
include/llvm/CodeGen). This representation is completely target agnostic,
representing instructions in their most abstract form: an opcode, a destination,
and a series of operands. This representation is designed to support both SSA
representation for machine code, as well as a register allocated, non-SSA form.
formed out of MachineFunction, MachineBasicBlock, and MachineInstr instances
(defined in include/llvm/CodeGen). This representation is completely target
agnostic, representing instructions in their most abstract form: an opcode, a
destination, and a series of operands. This representation is designed to
support both SSA representation for machine code, as well as a register
allocated, non-SSA form.
Because the M* representation must work regardless of the target machine, it
contains very little semantic information about the program. To get semantic
Because the Machine* representation must work regardless of the target machine,
it contains very little semantic information about the program. To get semantic
information about the program, a layer of Target description datastructures are
used, defined in include/llvm/Target.
Currently the Sparc backend and the X86 backend do not share a common
representation. This is an intentional decision, and will be rectified in the
future (after the project is done).
Note that there is some amount of complexity that the X86 backend contains due
to the Sparc backend's legacy requirements. These should eventually fade away
as the project progresses.
SSA Instruction Representation
------------------------------
Target machine instructions are represented as instances of MachineInstr, and
all specific machine instruction types should have an entry in the
InstructionInfo table defined through X86InstrInfo.def. In the X86 backend,
there are two particularly interesting forms of machine instruction: those that
produce a value (such as add), and those that do not (such as a store).
Instructions that produce a value use Operand #0 as the "destination" register.
When printing the assembly code with the built-in machine instruction printer,
these destination registers will be printed to the left side of an '=' sign, as
in: %reg1027 = addl %reg1026, %reg1025
This 'addl' MachineInstruction contains three "operands": the first is the
destination register (#1027), the second is the first source register (#1026)
and the third is the second source register (#1025). Never forget the
destination register will show up in the MachineInstr operands vector. The code
to generate this instruction looks like this:
BuildMI(BB, X86::ADDrr32, 2, 1027).addReg(1026).addReg(1025);
The first argument to BuildMI is the basic block to append the machine
instruction to, the second is the opcode, the third is the number of operands,
the fourth is the destination register. The two addReg calls specify operands
in order.
MachineInstrs that do not produce a value do not have this implicit first
operand, they simply have #operands = #uses. To create them, simply do not
specify a destination register to the BuildMI call.
=======================
@ -57,26 +89,25 @@ The LLVM-JIT is composed of source files primarily in the following locations:
include/llvm/CodeGen
--------------------
This directory contains header files that are used to represent the program in a
machine specific representation. It currently also contains a bunch of stuff
used by the Sparc backend that we don't want to get mixed up in.
used by the Sparc backend that we don't want to get mixed up in, such as
register allocation internals.
include/llvm/Target
-------------------
This directory contains header files that are used to interpret the machine
specific representation of the program. This allows us to write generic
transformations that will work on any target that implements the interfaces
defined in this directory. Again, this also contains a bunch of stuff from the
Sparc Backend that we don't want to deal with.
defined in this directory. The only classes used by the X86 backend so far are
the TargetMachine, TargetData, MachineInstrInfo, and MRegisterInfo classes.
lib/CodeGen
-----------
This directory will contain all of the target independant transformations (for
example, register allocation) that we write. These transformations should only
use information exposed through the Target interface, it should not include any
target specific header files.
use information exposed through the Target interface, they should not include
any target specific header files.
lib/Target/X86
--------------
@ -86,7 +117,10 @@ the X86 backend, for example the instruction selector and machine code emitter.
tools/jello
-----------
This directory contains the top-level code for the JIT compiler.
This directory contains the top-level code for the JIT compiler. This code
basically boils down to a call to TargetMachine::addPassesToJITCompile. As we
progress with the project, this will also contain the compile-dispatch-recompile
loop.
test/Regression/Jello
---------------------
@ -105,9 +139,7 @@ Critial path:
0. Finish providing SSA form. This involves keeping track of some information
when instructions are added to the function, but should not affect that API
for creating new MInstructions or adding them to the program. There are
also various FIXMEs in the M* files that need to get taken care of in the
near term.
for creating new MInstructions or adding them to the program.
1. Finish dumb instruction selector
2. Write dumb register allocator
3. Write assembly language emitter
@ -121,23 +153,23 @@ Next Phase:
After this project:
-------------------
1. Implement lots of nifty runtime optimizations
2. Implement a static compiler backend for x86
3. Migrate Sparc backend to new representation
4. Implement new spiffy targets: IA64? X86-64? M68k? Who knows...
2. Implement a static compiler backend for x86 (might come almost for free...)
3. Implement new spiffy targets: IA64? X86-64? M68k? Who knows...
Infrastructure Improvements:
----------------------------
1. Bytecode is designed to be able to read particular functions from the
bytecode without having to read the whole program. Bytecode reader should be
extended to allow on demand loading of functions.
extended to allow on-demand loading of functions.
2. PassManager needs to be able to run just a single function through a pipeline
of FunctionPass's. When this happens, all of our code will become
FunctionPass's for real.
of FunctionPass's.
3. llvmgcc needs to be modified to output 32-bit little endian LLVM files.
Preferably it will be parameterizable so that multiple binaries need not
exist. Until this happens, we will be restricted to using type safe
programs (most of the Olden suite and many smaller tests), which should be
sufficient for our 497 project.
sufficient for our 497 project. Additionally there are a few places in the
LLVM infrastructure where we assume Sparc TargetData layout. These should
be easy to factor out and identify though.