Effective representation of aliases and indirect memory operations in SSA form

Abstract

This paper addresses the problems of representing aliases and indirect memory operations in SSA form. We propose a method that prevents explosion in the number of SSA variable versions in the presence of aliases. We also present a technique that allows indirect memory operations to be globally commonized. The result is a precise and compact SSA representation based on global value numbering, called HSSA, that uniformly handles both scalar variables and indirect memory operations. We discuss the capabilities of the HSSA representation and present measurements that show the effects of implementing our techniques in a production global optimizer.