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Introduce a new SSA-based intermediate format for the compiler #1935

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bjorng commented Aug 17, 2018 •
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  • @bjorng bjorng edited Aug 17, 2018 (most recent)
  • @bjorng bjorng created Aug 17, 2018

This pull request introduces a Static Single Assignment (SSA) format as a new intermediate format in the compiler. The code generator as well as several optimization passes has been completely rewritten.

It is easier to write many kind optimizations for new SSA-based intermediate format than for the BEAM assembly language. We plan to introduce significantly improved optimizations of binary matching later this year.

For more details about the new compiler passes, see the individual commit messagges in this branch (especially "Introduce a new SSA-based intermediate format").

We hope to merge this pull request in one or two weeks. We'll try to fix any major bugs (compiler crashes or incorrectly generated code) before merging.

bjorng added some commits Mar 12, 2018

@bjorng
Teach binary instructions to use Y registers as destination 
The new code generator will use Y registers as a destination for
binary construction and matching instructions. v3_codegen would
always first store terms in an X register and it would be the
responsibility of the optimization passes to optimize the extra
moves.
b4b287d
@bjorng
v3_core: Number argument variables in ascending order 
Nicer to read and less confusion.
44ee726
@bjorng
beam_trim: Handle an empty list of instructions
ec2f6ef
@bjorng
beam_validator: Be more careful when updating try/catch state 
The new code generator will more aggressively reuse registers,
so we must be more careful about updating the state for try/catch.

In particular, an "empty" try/catch that can't throw an
exception must not update the try/catch state.
22f0a7f
@bjorng
beam_validator: Improve type analysis for tuples 
Since the compiler will start optimizing more aggressively, beam_validator
must keep up and improve the recognization of tuples and maps.
33d0755
@bjorng
beam_validator: Allow get_tuple_element before dsetelement
3822978
@bjorng
beam_validator: Don't transfer state to labels that can't be reached 
If we transfer state appropriately to labels that can't be reached,
the state could taint other labels.
316a794
@bjorng
beam_validator: Strengthen validation of func_info 
The func_info instruction does not expect a stack frame. There will
be an assertion failure in the debug-compiled runtime system.
526e047
@bjorng
beam_validator: Improve merge of cons and literal list
684d07d
@bjorng
Don't run unsafe compiler passes 
As a preparation for replacing v3_codegen with a new code generator,
remove unsafe optimization passes. Especially the older compiler
passes have implicit assumptions about how the code is generated.

Remove the optimizations in beam_block (keep the code that creates
blocks) because they are unsafe. beam_block also calls
beam_utils:live_opt/1, which is unsafe.

Remove beam_type because it calls beam_utils:live_opt/1, and also
because it recalculates the number of heaps words and number of live
registers in allocation instructions, thus potentially hiding bugs in
other passes.

Remove beam_receive because it is unsafe.

Remove beam_record because it is the only remaining user
of beam_utils:anno_defs/1.

Remove beam_reorder because it makes much more sense to run it
as an early SSA-based optimization pass.

Remove the now unused functions in beam_utils:

    anno_def/1
    delete_annos/1
    is_killed_block/2
    live_opt/1
    usage/3

Note that the following test cases will fail because of the
removed optimizations:

    compile_SUITE:optimized_guards/1
    compile_SUITE:bc_options/1
    receive_SUITE:ref_opt/1
3fc40fd
@bjorng
beam_except: Enhance recognition of function_clause exceptions 
Don't match exact BEAM instructions when trying to recognize
function_clause exceptions that should be replaced with a jump to the
func_info instruction. Instead, do a symbolic evaluation of the list
building code and see if the result is a list of the argument
registers.

While at it, also teach fix_block_1/2 to completely remove a test_heap
instruction before an exception generation instruction.
b4e4139
@bjorng
Simplify optimizations by introducing is_nil late
6065d9f
@bjorng
beam_validator: Infer the types of copies in a smarter way 
Smarter code generation means that beam_validator must
be smarter too. In the following example, beam_validator
must be able to infer that y0 refers to a map:

    move x0 y0
    test is_map L1 x0
    %% Here the type for y0 must be 'map'.
1f221b2
@bjorng
beam_utils: Make is_tagged_tuple a pure test 
This will enable more optimizations.
ec64aa2
@bjorng
beam_bs: Remove optimizations that are easier done on SSA format 
The removal of redundant bs_restore2 instructions is done easier
on the SSA format. Keep the rest of the optimizations, because
they are easier to do on the BEAM instructions.
62fac82
@bjorng
beam_dead: Remove shortcut of binary matching instruction 
This optimization can be better done in the SSA format before
code generation.
f107c76
@bjorng
hipe_beam_to_icode: Correct translation of get_map_elements 
If one of the destination registers for get_map_elements is
the same as the map source, extract that element last.
004257f

@bjorng bjorng added team:VM enhancement labels Aug 17, 2018

@bjorng bjorng self-assigned this Aug 17, 2018

lib/compiler/src/beam_z.erl
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ undo_rename({test,has_map_fields,Fail,[Src|List]}) ->
{test,has_map_fields,Fail,Src,{list,List}};
undo_rename({get_map_elements,Fail,Src,{list,List}}) ->
{get_map_elements,Fail,Src,{list,List}};
undo_rename({test,is_eq_exact,Fail,[Src,nil]}) ->
{test,is_nil,Fail,[Src]};

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michalmuskala Aug 17, 2018

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Is it possible the nil value will be the first argument? If so, I think this should cover both cases.

The previous code in bif_to_test would convert all [] == X, [] =:= X, X == [], and X =:= [] to the is_nil instruction.
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michalmuskala Aug 17, 2018

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Is it possible the nil value will be the first argument? If so, I think this should cover both cases.

The previous code in bif_to_test would convert all [] == X, [] =:= X, X == [], and X =:= [] to the is_nil instruction.

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bjorng Aug 19, 2018

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Is it possible the nil value will be the first argument?

No, that should not be possible.

There is this clause in beam_utils:bif_to_test/3 that places any literal argument in the second position:

bif_to_test('=:=', [C,A], Fail) when ?is_const(C) ->
    {test,is_eq_exact,Fail,[A,C]};

Here is the definition of is_const:

-define(is_const(Val), (Val =:= nil orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= integer orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= float orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= atom orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= literal)).
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bjorng Aug 19, 2018

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Is it possible the nil value will be the first argument?

No, that should not be possible.

There is this clause in beam_utils:bif_to_test/3 that places any literal argument in the second position:

bif_to_test('=:=', [C,A], Fail) when ?is_const(C) ->
    {test,is_eq_exact,Fail,[A,C]};

Here is the definition of is_const:

-define(is_const(Val), (Val =:= nil orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= integer orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= float orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= atom orelse
                        element(1, Val) =:= literal)).

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michalmuskala Aug 19, 2018

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Awesome. Sorry for the confusion.
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michalmuskala Aug 19, 2018

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Awesome. Sorry for the confusion.

bjorng added some commits Feb 1, 2018

@bjorng
Introduce a new SSA-based intermediate format 
v3_codegen is replaced by three new passes:

* beam_kernel_to_ssa which translates the Kernel Erlang format
  to a new SSA-based intermediate format.

* beam_ssa_pre_codegen which prepares the SSA-based format
  for code generation, including register allocation. Registers
  are allocated using the linear scan algorithm.

* beam_ssa_codegen which generates BEAM assembly code from the
  SSA-based format.

It easier and more effective to optimize the SSA-based format before X
and Y registers have been assigned.  The current optimization passes
constantly have to make sure no "holes" in the X register assignments
are created (that is, that no X register becomes undefined that an
allocation instruction depends on).

This commit also introduces the following optimizations:

* Replacing of tuple matching of records with the is_tagged_tuple
instruction. (Replacing beam_record.)

* Sinking of get_tuple_element instructions to just before the first
use of the extracted values. As well as potentially avoiding
extracting tuple elements when they are not actually used on all
executions paths, this optimization could also reduce the number
values that will need to be stored in Y registers. (Similar to
beam_reorder, but more effective.)

* Live optimizations, removing the definition of a variable that is
not subsequently used (provided that the operation has no side
effects), as well strength reduction of binary matching by replacing
the extraction of value from a binary with a skip instruction. (Used
to be done by beam_block, beam_utils, and v3_codegen.)

* Removal of redundant bs_restore2 instructions. (Formerly done
by beam_bs.)

* Type-based optimizations across branches. More effective than
the old beam_type pass that only did type-based optimizations in
basic blocks.

* Optimization of floating point instructions. (Formerly done
by beam_type.)

* Optimization of receive statements to introduce recv_mark and
recv_set instructions. More effective with far fewer restrictions
on what instructions are allowed between creating the reference
and entering the receive statement.

* Common subexpression elimination. (Formerly done by beam_block.)
6bee2ac
@bjorng
Remove retired compiler passes
05d9c45
@bjorng
Travis CI: Run the SSA linter in the Linux64SmokeTest build
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b3af7a2

@bjorng bjorng merged commit b3af7a2 into erlang:master Aug 24, 2018
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@bjorng bjorng deleted the bjorng:bjorn/compiler/ssa branch Aug 24, 2018

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Hi @bjorng! This looks very interesting, happy to see it merged! Are there any existing passes that you suspect that it could be cleaner (i.e. less lines of code) or more efficient (i.e. applies in more cases) if moved to SSA? If so, I would love to explore it, as a way to get more familiar with how SSA works. Thanks!
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josevalim commented Aug 29, 2018

Hi @bjorng! This looks very interesting, happy to see it merged! Are there any existing passes that you suspect that it could be cleaner (i.e. less lines of code) or more efficient (i.e. applies in more cases) if moved to SSA? If so, I would love to explore it, as a way to get more familiar with how SSA works. Thanks!
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Here are some passes that I think could benefit from SSA:

sys_core_dsetel. Could be an easy way to get started with SSA. You could also implement #1890.

The sub pass v3_kernel:guard_opt/2.

beam_trim. This probably has to be implemented as a sub pass of ssa_codegen or ssa_pre_codegen.

The minor optimizations in beam_flatten. They probably have to be done in beam_ssa_codegen.

Optimization of #b_switch{} branches. If two branches jumps to code blocks that do the same thing, let both branches jump to the same block. beam_jump does this kind of optimization, but doing it earlier in the SSA format could speed up compilation of function with many clauses.

Getting rid of the call to beam_utils:is_killed/3 in beam_jump (in some way to be determined). We want to remove beam_utils:is_killed().

A pass I am not sure about is beam_bs. We could possibly gain some compilation speed by rewriting it in SSA. Could also be a good project for getting started with SSA.

I am currently working on a replacement for beam_dead. John is working on a replacement for beam_bsm.
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bjorng commented Aug 29, 2018

Here are some passes that I think could benefit from SSA:

sys_core_dsetel. Could be an easy way to get started with SSA. You could also implement #1890.

The sub pass v3_kernel:guard_opt/2.

beam_trim. This probably has to be implemented as a sub pass of ssa_codegen or ssa_pre_codegen.

The minor optimizations in beam_flatten. They probably have to be done in beam_ssa_codegen.

Optimization of #b_switch{} branches. If two branches jumps to code blocks that do the same thing, let both branches jump to the same block. beam_jump does this kind of optimization, but doing it earlier in the SSA format could speed up compilation of function with many clauses.

Getting rid of the call to beam_utils:is_killed/3 in beam_jump (in some way to be determined). We want to remove beam_utils:is_killed().

A pass I am not sure about is beam_bs. We could possibly gain some compilation speed by rewriting it in SSA. Could also be a good project for getting started with SSA.

I am currently working on a replacement for beam_dead. John is working on a replacement for beam_bsm.
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Thanks! I will let you know when I get started with any those (possibly the dsetel one) to make sure there is no work duplication.
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josevalim commented Aug 29, 2018

Thanks! I will let you know when I get started with any those (possibly the dsetel one) to make sure there is no work duplication.
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