Adaptive code through self steered execution

• US 20080127134A1
• Filed: 10/27/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Song, Yonghong, Goebel, Kurt J., Tirumalai, Partha P., Kalogeropulos, Spiros
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,440 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/443 Optimisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45525 Optimisation or modification within the same instruction set architecture, e.g. HP Dynamo

Abstract

A method and mechanism for producing and executing self-steering program code. A method comprises analyzing program code and identifying portions which may be amenable to optimization. Having identified such a portion of code, at least one optimized version of the identified code is added to the program code. Additionally, a selection mechanism is added to the program code which is configured to select between two or more versions of the portion of code during runtime. The modified program code is then compiled with the added optimized version and the selection mechanism. During execution, monitoring of behavior of the code may be enabled or disabled. Based upon such monitored behavior, a different version of the code may be selected for execution. Various optimized versions may be selected for execution in a manner which takes advantage of the current behavior of the program

Claims

1. A method for generating self-steering executable code, the method comprising:

analyzing program code;

identifying a given portion of code in the program code;

adding at least one optimized version of the given portion to the program code;

adding a selection mechanism to the program code, said selection mechanism being configured to select between two or more versions of the portion of code during runtime; and

compiling the program code with the added optimized version and the selection mechanism.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising adding a monitoring mechanism to the program code.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the monitoring mechanism is configured to monitor a behavior of the given portion of code.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein said selection mechanism is configured to select between said two or more versions of the portion of code based at least in part on said behavior.

5. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the monitoring mechanism is included in a version of the given portion of code.

6. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein monitoring said behavior of the given portion of code comprises monitoring one or more behavioral factors of the given portion of code and storing data corresponding to the monitored factors.

14. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 1, wherein said program instructions are operable to add a monitoring mechanism to the program code.

15. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 2, wherein the monitoring mechanism is configured to monitor a behavior of the given portion of code.

16. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 3, wherein said selection mechanism is configured to select between said two or more versions of the portion of code based at least in part on said behavior.

17. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 2, wherein the monitoring mechanism is included in a version of the given portion of code.

18. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 3, wherein monitoring said behavior of the given portion of code comprises monitoring one or more behavioral factors of the given portion of code and storing data corresponding to the monitored factors.

7. A processor comprising:

memory configured to store program code; and

circuitry configured to;

analyze program code;

identify a given portion of code in the program code;

add at least one optimized version of the given portion to the program code;

add a selection mechanism to the program code, said selection mechanism being configured to select between two or more versions of the portion of code during runtime; and

compile the program code with the added optimized version and the selection mechanism.

8. The processor as recited in claim 8, wherein said circuitry is configured to monitor the program code during execution.

9. The processor as recited in claim 8, wherein said circuitry is configured to monitor a behavior of the given portion of code during execution.

10. The processor as recited in claim 9, wherein said circuitry is configured to select between said two or more versions of the portion of code based at least in part on said behavior.

11. The processor as recited in claim 8, wherein the monitoring mechanism is included in a version of the given portion of code.

12. The processor as recited in claim 9, wherein monitoring said behavior of the given portion of code comprises monitoring one or more behavioral factors of the given portion of code and storing data corresponding to the monitored factors.

13. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions, said program instructions being operable to:

analyze program code;

identify a given portion of code in the program code;

add at least one optimized version of the given portion to the program code;

add a selection mechanism to the program code, said selection mechanism being configured to select between two or more versions of the portion of code during runtime; and

compile the program code with the added optimized version and the selection mechanism.