Amalgamating Different JIT Compilations in a Meta-tracing JIT Compiler Framework

TL;DR

This paper introduces a meta-hybrid JIT compiler framework that combines trace-based and method-based compilation strategies, demonstrating potential performance improvements in virtual machine environments.

Contribution

It proposes a novel meta-JIT framework that amalgamates different compilation strategies, with a proof-of-concept implementation and experimental validation.

Findings

Some programs ran faster with hybrid compilation.

The framework successfully combines trace-based and method-based strategies.

Experimental results show performance improvements in certain cases.

Abstract

Many modern virtual machines, such as JVMs, .NET Framework, and V8, employ a just-in-time (JIT) compiler to achieve their high-performance. There are two major compilation strategies; trace-based compilation and method-based compilation. They have their own advantages and disadvantages, so we presume that applying suitable strategies for different program parts is essential for faster execution. This paper proposes a new approach called the meta-hybrid JIT compiler framework, which combined the two strategies in a single meta-JIT compiler framework. We implemented the BacCaml framework for proof-of-concept. We also report that some programs actually ran faster by the hybrid compilation in our experiments.