Code optimization for tagged-token dataflow machines

The efficiency of dataflow code generated from a high-level language can be considerably improved by both conventional and dataflow-specific optimizations. Such techniques are used in implementing the single-assignment language SISAL on the Manchester Dataflow Machine. The quality of code generated for numeric applications can be measured in terms of the ratio of total number of instructions executed to floating-point operations: the MIPS/MFLOPS ratio. Relevant features of the general-purpose single-assignment language SISAL and the Manchester Dataflow Machine are introduced. An assessment of the initial SISAL implementation shows it to be very expensive. A range of optimizations is then described