5 research outputs found
Finding Morton-Like Layouts for Multi-Dimensional Arrays Using Evolutionary Algorithms
The layout of multi-dimensional data can have a significant impact on the
efficacy of hardware caches and, by extension, the performance of applications.
Common multi-dimensional layouts include the canonical row-major and
column-major layouts as well as the Morton curve layout. In this paper, we
describe how the Morton layout can be generalized to a very large family of
multi-dimensional data layouts with widely varying performance characteristics.
We posit that this design space can be efficiently explored using a
combinatorial evolutionary methodology based on genetic algorithms. To this
end, we propose a chromosomal representation for such layouts as well as a
methodology for estimating the fitness of array layouts using cache simulation.
We show that our fitness function correlates to kernel running time in real
hardware, and that our evolutionary strategy allows us to find candidates with
favorable simulated cache properties in four out of the eight real-world
applications under consideration in a small number of generations. Finally, we
demonstrate that the array layouts found using our evolutionary method perform
well not only in simulated environments but that they can effect significant
performance gains -- up to a factor ten in extreme cases -- in real hardware
The Opie Compiler: from Row-major Source to Morton-ordered Matrices
The Opie Project aims to develop a compiler to transform C codes written for row-major matrix representation into equivalentcodes for Morton-order matrix representation, and to apply its techniques to other languages. Accepting a possible reduction in performance weseek to compile libraries of usable code to support future developmentofnew algorithms better suited to Morton-ordered matrices
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Rural life in English poetry of the mid-eighteenth century
This thesis examines several mid-eighteenth century poems, assessing their portrayal of rural life, its literary and historical significance, and the aesthetic and ideological issues it presents. An introductory essay on developments in rural poetry sets the scene for two extended essays. The first essay is a comparative reading of the subject of rural labour in three poems: James Thomsonâs The Seasons (1726-44), Stephen Duckâs The Thresherâs Labour (1730, 1736) and Mary Collierâs The Womanâs Labour (1739). The viewpoints of a professional poet (Thomson), a farm labourer (Duck), and a working woman (Collier) are compared in relation to kinds of work all three address as well as to individual labouring subjects. The responses of the three poets to such related issues as folk traditions, forms of charity and other âcompensationsâ, are also compared. Some surprising similarities as well as instructive differences are located; and an interesting picture of idealistic and realistic, male-oriented and female-oriented attitudes to labour and labour-related themes emerges