A Simple, Linear-Time Algorithm for x86 Jump Encoding

TL;DR

This paper presents a straightforward, efficient linear-time algorithm for optimizing jump encoding in x86 assembly, improving space efficiency without complex data structures or recursion.

Contribution

It introduces a simple, linear-time algorithm for x86 jump encoding that is practical and easy to implement, with minimal assumptions about code structure.

Findings

Algorithm runs in linear time

No complex data structures or recursion needed

Applicable to real-world code

Abstract

The problem of space-optimal jump encoding in the x86 instruction set, also known as branch displacement optimization, is described, and a linear-time algorithm is given that uses no complicated data structures, no recursion, and no randomization. The only assumption is that there are no array declarations whose size depends on the negative of the size of a section of code (Hyde 2006), which is reasonable for real code.