Unconventional Applications of Compiler Analysis

Abstract

Previously, compiler transformations have primarily focused on minimizing program execution time. This thesis explores some examples of applying compiler technology outside of its original scope. Specifically, we apply compiler analysis to the field of software maintenance and evolution by examining the use of global data throughout the lifetimes of many open source projects. Also, we investigate the effects of compiler optimizations on the power consumption of small battery powered devices. Finally, in an area closer to traditional compiler research we examine automatic program parallelization in the form of thread-level speculation.