[pypy-dev] Any publications regarding PyPy / trace-based JIT compiler?

[David Edelsohn]

On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 8:44 AM, Carl Friedrich Bolz <cfbolz at gmx.de> wrote:
> On 07/03/2012 11:28 PM, Michael Sioutis wrote:
>>
>> Dear PyPy team,
>>
>> I am in the process of writing a paper that will target some AI
>> conference, and I would like
>> to ask if there are any relevant publications of yours or in general
>> that showcase the possible advantages
>> of trace-based JIT compilation over method-based JIT compilation or
>> static compilation.
>>
>> I just want to use 2 or 3 of them as references when I explain why my
>> implementation is more scalable
>> and robust when compared to some C/C++/Java implementations (appart from
>> different data structures and
>> algorithms).
>>
>> Thank you :)
>
>
> The two PyPy papers about our tracing JIT are these:
>
> http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1565827
> http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2069172.2069181
>
> However, they don't really precisely answer you question, why tracing JITs
> are better.

I don't think it is clear that tracing JITs are better.

Tracing often implies some other characteristics and features, such as
level of inlining, specialization and guards versus arbitrary control
flow, but method JITs are not prevented from adapting these
techniques.

The advantages and benefits are a lot subtler than tracing versus method JITs.

- David