By: Travis Downs (travis.downs.delete@this.gmail.com), December 21, 2018 6:08 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
j (j.delete@this.invalid.example.com) on December 21, 2018 10:46 am wrote:
> That seems to be the argument of the RISC-V designers, yes. I guess one problem with cmov
> is when to use it? A competent ASM programmer doing careful profiling of the code, sure, but
> a compiler without profile information - most likely a traditional branch is better here.
> So the question then is cmov (not to mention other predicated instructions) useful enough
> that it's worth spending opcode space on - RISC-V designers evidently thought it wasn't.
Yes, branches are good but cmov is also "cheap" on modern CPUs, comparable in "raw cost" to a branch. The main costs of cmov is introducing a data dependency between both inputs and the output, which doesn't happen when you use in a branch. In principle a compiler is well placed to evaluate whether the potential cmov is part of an "important" dependency chain, but in practice they don't seem to.
Instead, it seems they largely use heuristics to estimate the probability of a branch being taken, and for "uncertain" branches they will prefer a cmov. Of course, the heuristics can be way off in both directions. If you use PGO, the heuristics are then replaced by actual measurements, which will be better to the extend that your PGO workload reflects reality.
I'm not aware of any attribute or other mechanism to mark a branch "unpredictable" (analogously to how you can mark them likely or unlikely), but it would be useful in some scenarios.
Even with the limitations, I think cmov is a useful tool in a compiler's tool belt. Branch predictors are good, but many important branches will never be well predicted, since the underlying source is often unpredictable. Branches used in the inner loops of many compression and decompression algorithms are a good example: they are unpredictable by design.
> That seems to be the argument of the RISC-V designers, yes. I guess one problem with cmov
> is when to use it? A competent ASM programmer doing careful profiling of the code, sure, but
> a compiler without profile information - most likely a traditional branch is better here.
> So the question then is cmov (not to mention other predicated instructions) useful enough
> that it's worth spending opcode space on - RISC-V designers evidently thought it wasn't.
Yes, branches are good but cmov is also "cheap" on modern CPUs, comparable in "raw cost" to a branch. The main costs of cmov is introducing a data dependency between both inputs and the output, which doesn't happen when you use in a branch. In principle a compiler is well placed to evaluate whether the potential cmov is part of an "important" dependency chain, but in practice they don't seem to.
Instead, it seems they largely use heuristics to estimate the probability of a branch being taken, and for "uncertain" branches they will prefer a cmov. Of course, the heuristics can be way off in both directions. If you use PGO, the heuristics are then replaced by actual measurements, which will be better to the extend that your PGO workload reflects reality.
I'm not aware of any attribute or other mechanism to mark a branch "unpredictable" (analogously to how you can mark them likely or unlikely), but it would be useful in some scenarios.
Even with the limitations, I think cmov is a useful tool in a compiler's tool belt. Branch predictors are good, but many important branches will never be well predicted, since the underlying source is often unpredictable. Branches used in the inner loops of many compression and decompression algorithms are a good example: they are unpredictable by design.
Topic | Posted By | Date |
---|---|---|
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/12/19 08:36 AM |
RISC-V gut feelings | Konrad Schwarz | 2018/12/20 04:30 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Heikki Kultala | 2018/12/20 07:36 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/20 01:31 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/20 02:18 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/21 03:43 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Ronald Maas | 2018/12/21 09:35 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | juanrga | 2018/12/21 10:28 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Maynard Handley | 2018/12/21 02:39 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | anon | 2018/12/21 03:38 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | juanrga | 2018/12/23 04:39 AM |
With similar logic nor do frequency (NT) | Megol | 2018/12/23 09:45 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | juanrga | 2018/12/23 04:44 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/23 06:21 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Michael S | 2018/12/20 03:24 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | anon | 2018/12/20 04:22 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/21 06:16 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | anon | 2018/12/22 03:53 AM |
Execution runtimes and Spectre | Foo_ | 2018/12/22 06:02 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Adrian | 2018/12/20 08:51 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Doug S | 2018/12/20 11:10 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Adrian | 2018/12/20 11:38 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Michael S | 2018/12/21 02:31 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Adrian | 2018/12/21 03:23 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | random person | 2018/12/21 02:04 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | dmcq | 2018/12/21 04:27 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | juanrga | 2018/12/21 10:36 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Doug S | 2018/12/21 12:02 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | juanrga | 2018/12/21 10:23 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Adrian | 2018/12/20 11:21 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | anon | 2018/12/21 01:48 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Adrian | 2018/12/21 03:44 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | anon | 2018/12/21 05:24 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Adrian | 2018/12/21 04:09 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/21 04:28 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Michael S | 2018/12/21 02:27 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/12/21 01:09 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Maynard Handley | 2018/12/21 02:58 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/21 03:43 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/21 05:45 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/22 04:37 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/22 06:54 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/22 10:32 AM |
Cracking is not free | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/12/22 02:09 AM |
Cracking is not free | Wilco | 2018/12/22 04:32 AM |
Cracking is not free | Travis Downs | 2018/12/22 07:07 AM |
Cracking is not free | Wilco | 2018/12/22 07:38 AM |
Cracking is not free | Travis Downs | 2018/12/22 07:47 AM |
Cracking is not free | Wilco | 2018/12/22 10:24 AM |
Cracking is not free | Travis Downs | 2018/12/25 03:41 PM |
Cracking is not free | anon.1 | 2018/12/25 08:14 PM |
multi-instruction decode and rename | Paul A. Clayton | 2018/12/22 06:45 PM |
Cracking is not free | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/12/22 12:30 PM |
Cracking is not free | Wilco | 2018/12/23 06:48 AM |
Cracking is not free | Michael S | 2018/12/23 08:09 AM |
Cracking is not free | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/12/26 02:53 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | rwessel | 2018/12/21 01:13 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Seni | 2018/12/21 02:33 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/21 03:33 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/21 05:49 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/22 04:58 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/22 07:03 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Wilco | 2018/12/22 07:22 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/22 07:40 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | dmcq | 2018/12/21 03:57 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Konrad Schwarz | 2018/12/21 02:25 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | j | 2018/12/21 10:46 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/21 06:08 PM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | dmcq | 2018/12/22 07:45 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Travis Downs | 2018/12/22 07:50 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | Michael S | 2018/12/22 08:15 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | dmcq | 2018/12/22 10:41 AM |
RISC-V inferior to ARMv8 | AnonQ | 2018/12/22 08:13 AM |
RISC-V gut feelings | dmcq | 2018/12/20 07:41 AM |
RISC-V initial take | Konrad Schwarz | 2018/12/21 02:17 AM |
RISC-V initial take | dmcq | 2018/12/21 03:23 AM |
RISC-V gut feelings | Montaray Jack | 2018/12/22 02:56 PM |
RISC-V gut feelings | dmcq | 2018/12/23 04:38 AM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | juanrga | 2018/12/21 10:47 AM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | dmcq | 2018/12/22 06:21 AM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | Montaray Jack | 2018/12/22 02:03 PM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | dmcq | 2018/12/23 04:39 AM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | anon2 | 2018/12/21 10:57 AM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | Michael S | 2018/12/22 08:36 AM |
RISC-V Summit Proceedings | Anon | 2018/12/22 05:51 PM |
Not Stanford MIPS but commercial MIPS | Paul A. Clayton | 2018/12/23 03:05 AM |
Not Stanford MIPS but commercial MIPS | Michael S | 2018/12/23 03:49 AM |
Not Stanford MIPS but commercial MIPS | dmcq | 2018/12/23 04:52 AM |