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An information-theoretic look at branch-prediction

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6569918· OSTI ID:6569918
 [1];  [2]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
  2. Motorola, Inc., Austin, TX (USA)

Accurate branch-prediction is necessary to utilize deeply pipelined and Very Long Instruction-Word (VLIW) architectures. For a set of program traces we show the upper limits on branch predictability, and hence machine utilization, for important classes of branch-predictors using static (compiletime) and dynamic (runtime) program information. A set of optimal superpredictors'' is derived from these program traces. These optimal predictors compare favorably with other proposed methods of branch-prediction. 3 refs., 5 figs., 12 tabs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOD; DOE/ER; NSF
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6569918
Report Number(s):
UCRL-ID-106077; ON: DE91000499; CNN: CCR-8812843 DAAG29-85-K-0070 N00039-84-; C-0089
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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