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Program analysis and optimization through kernel-control decomposition

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Summary

The decomposition of a program into a control part, which is concerned only with determining the flow of control, and a kernel part, which is concerned only with computing output values, is proposed. It is shown that such a kernel-control decomposition is easily made and forms a useful and intuitive basis for analyzing and optimizing programs. A sequence of four progressively more abstract formal models of programs is developed, based on the concept of kernel-control decomposition. The application of these models to the study of program equivalence, termination, and optimization is outlined. The most general of the formal models, that of a set of programs forming a control structure class, formalizes a broad notion of equivalence of control structures.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Virginia, 22901, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Terrence Pratt

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  1. Terrence Pratt
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Additional information

This work was performed at the University of Texas at Austin under NSF Grants GJ-778, GJ-36424, and MCS 75-16858

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Pratt, T. Program analysis and optimization through kernel-control decomposition. Acta Informatica 9, 195–216 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288882

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00288882

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