Title: Performance benefits of large execution atomic units in dynamically scheduled machines
Abstract:In this paper we identify three types of atomic units, or indivisible units of work: architectural atomic units (defined by architecture level interrupts and exceptions), compiler atomic units (define...In this paper we identify three types of atomic units, or indivisible units of work: architectural atomic units (defined by architecture level interrupts and exceptions), compiler atomic units (defined by compiler code generation) and execution atomic units (defined by run-time interruptibility). We discuss trade-offs for these units and show that size has different performance implications depending on the atomic unit. We simulate a number of different implementations of the VAX architecture, focusing on different execution atomic unit sizes. We show that significant performance benefits can be achieved by having large execution atomic units in dynamically scheduled machines.Read More