NHR PerfLab Seminar: Compiler architecture: the discipline and abstractions to exploit application domains, target accelerators and feed microarchitecture (September 9, online)
Speaker: Prof. Paul Kelly, Head of Software Performance Optimisation, Imperial College London
Date and time: Tuesday, September 9, 2025, 2:00 p.m. CEST
Abstract:
Compilers have architecture: the art of compiler design is to find the right representation so that hard optimisation and synthesis problems become easy. This talk will review several projects that motivate, illustrate and explore this idea. With domain-specific languages, we can capture not just the computation, but the mathematics of what is being computed. When targeting accelerators, we design intermediate representations that capture critical computational patterns. Compiler architecture is also software architecture, and I will say a little about our work on MLIR-based tools to support common compiler infrastructure across different DSLs. I’ll also offer some reflections on what we gain from domain-specificity; pointer aliasing is one of the biggest barriers to ambitious optimisation in more general-purpose programs – I will finish with some reflections on how to exploit what we can know in general-purpose code.
Short bio:
Paul Kelly leads the Software Performance Optimisation group at Imperial College London. He has worked in compilers, programming languages, computer architecture, operating systems, verification and algorithms. A major focus is domain-specific program optimisation, leading to close engagement with colleagues in computational science, robotics and computer vision. This talk covers joint work with many such collaborators.
For a list of past and upcoming NHR PerfLab seminar events, please see: https://hpc.fau.de/research/nhr-perflab-seminar-series/