Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Register Allocation: Tail Calls

In course

CS-420: Advanced compiler construction

Students learn several implementation techniques for modern functional and object-oriented programming languages. They put some of them into practice by developing key parts of a compiler and run time system for a simple functional programming language. ...

Description

This lecture covers register allocation techniques, including interference graph examples, coloring, spilling, and coalescing. It also explains tail calls, their optimization, and their implementation in various environments.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructor

Michel Schinz

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Tail call

In computer science, a tail call is a subroutine call performed as the final action of a procedure. If the target of a tail is the same subroutine, the subroutine is said to be tail recursive, which is a special case of direct recursion. Tail recursion (or tail-end recursion) is particularly useful, and is often easy to optimize in implementations. Tail calls can be implemented without adding a new stack frame to the call stack.

Graph coloring

In graph theory, graph coloring is a special case of graph labeling; it is an assignment of labels traditionally called "colors" to elements of a graph subject to certain constraints. In its simplest form, it is a way of coloring the vertices of a graph such that no two adjacent vertices are of the same color; this is called a vertex coloring. Similarly, an edge coloring assigns a color to each edge so that no two adjacent edges are of the same color, and a face coloring of a planar graph assigns a color to each face or region so that no two faces that share a boundary have the same color.

In compiler optimization, register allocation is the process of assigning local automatic variables and expression results to a limited number of processor registers. Register allocation can happen over a basic block (local register allocation), over a whole function/procedure (global register allocation), or across function boundaries traversed via call-graph (interprocedural register allocation). When done per function/procedure the calling convention may require insertion of save/restore around each call-site.

Call stack

In computer science, a call stack is a stack data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. This kind of stack is also known as an execution stack, program stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to just "the stack". Although maintenance of the call stack is important for the proper functioning of most software, the details are normally hidden and automatic in high-level programming languages.

Fractional coloring

Fractional coloring is a topic in a young branch of graph theory known as fractional graph theory. It is a generalization of ordinary graph coloring. In a traditional graph coloring, each vertex in a graph is assigned some color, and adjacent vertices — those connected by edges — must be assigned different colors. In a fractional coloring however, a set of colors is assigned to each vertex of a graph. The requirement about adjacent vertices still holds, so if two vertices are joined by an edge, they must have no colors in common.

Related lectures (36)

Covers the efficiency of register machines over stack machines, memory organization, and mapping instructions.

Covers register allocation using graph coloring to minimize memory access in programs.

Optimization with Constraints: KKT Conditions

Covers the KKT conditions for optimization with constraints, essential for solving constrained optimization problems efficiently.

MIPS Functions and Stack

Explains MIPS functions, stack usage, calling convention, and register management.

Markov Chains and Algorithm Applications

Covers the application of Markov chains and algorithms for function optimization and graph colorings.

Related concepts (32)