Cong Hou fed6bd8617 Use fixed-point representation for BranchProbability.
BranchProbability now is represented by its numerator and denominator in uint32_t type. This patch changes this representation into a fixed point that is represented by the numerator in uint32_t type and a constant denominator 1<<31. This is quite similar to the representation of BlockMass in BlockFrequencyInfoImpl.h. There are several pros and cons of this change:

Pros:

1. It uses only a half space of the current one.
2. Some operations are much faster like plus, subtraction, comparison, and scaling by an integer.

Cons:

1. Constructing a probability using arbitrary numerator and denominator needs additional calculations.
2. It is a little less precise than before as we use a fixed denominator. For example, 1 - 1/3 may not be exactly identical to 1 / 3 (this will lead to many BranchProbability unit test failures). This should not matter when we only use it for branch probability. If we use it like a rational value for some precise calculations we may need another construct like ValueRatio.

One important reason for this change is that we propose to store branch probabilities instead of edge weights in MachineBasicBlock. We also want clients to use probability instead of weight when adding successors to a MBB. The current BranchProbability has more space which may be a concern.

Differential revision: http://reviews.llvm.org/D12603



git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@248633 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
2015-09-25 23:09:59 +00:00
..
2015-09-22 11:15:07 +00:00
2015-08-07 17:32:06 +00:00

Design Of lib/System
====================

The software in this directory is designed to completely shield LLVM from any
and all operating system specific functionality. It is not intended to be a
complete operating system wrapper (such as ACE), but only to provide the
functionality necessary to support LLVM.

The software located here, of necessity, has very specific and stringent design
rules. Violation of these rules means that cracks in the shield could form and
the primary goal of the library is defeated. By consistently using this library,
LLVM becomes more easily ported to new platforms since the only thing requiring
porting is this library.

Complete documentation for the library can be found in the file:
  llvm/docs/SystemLibrary.html
or at this URL:
  http://llvm.org/docs/SystemLibrary.html

While we recommend that you read the more detailed documentation, for the
impatient, here's a high level summary of the library's requirements.

 1. No system header files are to be exposed through the interface.
 2. Std C++ and Std C header files are okay to be exposed through the interface.
 3. No exposed system-specific functions.
 4. No exposed system-specific data.
 5. Data in lib/System classes must use only simple C++ intrinsic types.
 6. Errors are handled by returning "true" and setting an optional std::string
 7. Library must not throw any exceptions, period.
 8. Interface functions must not have throw() specifications.
 9. No duplicate function impementations are permitted within an operating
    system class.

To accomplish these requirements, the library has numerous design criteria that
must be satisfied. Here's a high level summary of the library's design criteria:

 1. No unused functionality (only what LLVM needs)
 2. High-Level Interfaces
 3. Use Opaque Classes
 4. Common Implementations
 5. Multiple Implementations
 6. Minimize Memory Allocation
 7. No Virtual Methods