Cross Comparison on C Compilers´ Reliability Impact on 64-Bit Windows Vista OS

Software reliability has always been a concern for both software producers and consumers. Because of their role in binary code generation, compilers have significant impact on software performance. Although many works have been conducted on compilers, little is done on their impact on software reliability. Thus, people often face a void of useful knowledge when deciding which compiler to use in developing software to meet a specific reliability target. This paper tries to provide some guidance in users´ compiler selection by performing cross-comparison study on popular C compilers: Intel, PGI, and Visual Studio using 64-bit Windows Vista ultimate edition. We have used SPEC CPU2006 benchmark suite as our test set. Our results show that Visual studio is the most efficient compiler and the binaries generated by Intel compiler seems to be the most reliable for this platform. Overall, Intel compiler has superior reliability impact compared to other compilers on Windows Vista OS. And this result is consistent with user experience from our survey feedback.