Trace-driven simulation is an important aid in performance analysis of computer systems. Capturing address traces for these simulations is a difficult problem for single processors and particularly for multicomputers. Even when existing trace methods can be used on multicomputers, thc amount of coltected data typically grows with the number of processors, so IP and trace storage costs increase. A new technique is presented in this paper which modifies the executable code to dynamically collect the address trace from the user code and analyzes this trace during the execution of the program. This method helps resolve the I/O and storage problems and facilitates parallel analysis of the address trace. If a trace stared on disk is desired, the generated trace information can also be wriaen to files during execution, with a resultant drop in program execution speed. An initial implementation on the Intel ipSC/2 hypercube multicomputer is detailed, and sample simulation results are presented. The effect of this trace collection method on execution time is illustrated. Acknowledgmmnf: This ~ m h wu suppond in put by a Shell Doud Fellowship. by a Digital Faculty

nd family deserve thanks for many things. Special thanks go to William Daly of Dumont High School, who encouraged my interest in computers and even hired me as a programmer. iii iv Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Application-specic signal processors : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 1 1.2 Generating horizontal microcode : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 5 2 Target Architectures 11 2.1 The Kappa datapath : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 12 2.2 The boolean and control units : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 14 3 The RL Compiler 16 3.1 RL : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 16 3.2 The register-transfer notation : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 25 3.3 The machine description : : : : : : :