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Cache Prefetching
Cache prefetching is a technique used by computer processors to boost execution performance by fetching instructions or data from their original storage in slower memory to a faster local memory before it is actually needed (hence the term 'prefetch'). Most modern computer processors have fast and local cache memory in which prefetched data is held until it is required. The source for the prefetch operation is usually main memory. Because of their design, accessing cache memories is typically much faster than accessing main memory, so prefetching data and then accessing it from caches is usually many orders of magnitude faster than accessing it directly from main memory. Prefetching can be done with non-blocking cache control instructions. Data vs. instruction cache prefetching Cache prefetching can either fetch data or instructions into cache. * Data prefetching fetches data before it is needed. Because data access patterns show less regularity than instruction patterns, accura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cache (computing)
In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. A ''cache hit'' occurs when the requested data can be found in a cache, while a ''cache miss'' occurs when it cannot. Cache hits are served by reading data from the cache, which is faster than recomputing a result or reading from a slower data store; thus, the more requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the system performs. To be cost-effective and to enable efficient use of data, caches must be relatively small. Nevertheless, caches have proven themselves in many areas of computing, because typical computer applications access data with a high degree of locality of reference. Such access patterns exhibit temporal locality, where data is requested that has been recently requested already, and spatial locality, where d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prefetcher
The Prefetcher is a component of Microsoft Windows which was introduced in Windows XP. It is a component of the Memory Manager that can speed up the Windows boot process and shorten the amount of time it takes to start up programs. It accomplishes this by caching files that are needed by an application to RAM as the application is launched, thus consolidating disk reads and reducing disk seeks. This feature was covered by US patent 6,633,968. Since Windows Vista, the Prefetcher has been extended by SuperFetch and ReadyBoost. SuperFetch attempts to accelerate application launch times by monitoring and adapting to application usage patterns over periods of time, and caching the majority of the files and data needed by them into memory in advance so that they can be accessed very quickly when needed. ReadyBoost (when enabled) uses external memory like a USB flash drive to extend the system cache beyond the amount of RAM installed in the computer. ReadyBoost also has a component calle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Link Prefetching
Link prefetching allows web browsers to pre-load resources. This speeds up both the loading and rendering of web pages. Prefetching was first introduced in HTML5. Prefetching is accomplished through hints in web pages. These hints are used by the browser to prefetch links. Resources which can be prefetched include: JavaScript, CSS, image, audio, video, and web fonts. DNS names and TCP connections can also be hinted for prefetching. Prefetching in HTML5 There are two W3C standards covering prefetching for HTML5: * Link preload ** Hints to specific URLs. Common hints include JavaScript, CSS, images and web fonts. * Resource hints ** Hints to the browser. Common hints include DNS queries, opening TCP connections, and page pre-rendering. HTML5 methods for prefetch hints: * Standard link prefetch (supported by most browsers): * DNS prefetch (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and others): * Page pre-rendering (Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and others): * Lazy-load of images (Intern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prefetch Input Queue
Fetching the instruction opcodes from program memory well in advance is known as prefetching and it is served by using prefetch input queue (PIQ).The pre-fetched instructions are stored in data structure - namely a queue. The fetching of opcodes well in advance, prior to their need for execution increases the overall efficiency of the processor boosting its speed. The processor no longer has to wait for the memory access operations for the subsequent instruction opcode to complete. This architecture was prominently used in the Intel 8086 microprocessor. Introduction Pipelining was brought to the forefront of computing architecture design during the 1960s due to the need for faster and more efficient computing. Pipelining is the broader concept and most modern processors load their instructions some clock cycles before they execute them. This is achieved by pre-loading machine code from memory into a ''prefetch input queue''. This behavior only applies to von Neumann computer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Run Time (program Lifecycle Phase)
In computer science, runtime, run time, or execution time is the final phase of a computer programs life cycle, in which the code is being executed on the computer's central processing unit (CPU) as machine code. In other words, "runtime" is the running phase of a program. A runtime error is detected after or during the execution (running state) of a program, whereas a compile-time error is detected by the compiler before the program is ever executed. Type checking, register allocation, code generation, and code optimization are typically done at compile time, but may be done at runtime depending on the particular language and compiler. Many other runtime errors exist and are handled differently by different programming languages, such as division by zero errors, domain errors, array subscript out of bounds errors, arithmetic underflow errors, several types of underflow and overflow errors, and many other runtime errors generally considered as software bugs which may or may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compiler
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a low-level programming language (e.g. assembly language, object code, or machine code) to create an executable program. Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman - Second Edition, 2007 There are many different types of compilers which produce output in different useful forms. A ''cross-compiler'' produces code for a different CPU or operating system than the one on which the cross-compiler itself runs. A ''bootstrap compiler'' is often a temporary compiler, used for compiling a more permanent or better optimised compiler for a language. Related software include, a program that translates from a low-level language to a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cache Performance Measurement And Metric
A CPU cache is a piece of hardware that reduces access time to data in memory by keeping some part of the frequently used data of the main memory in a 'cache' of smaller and faster memory. The performance of a computer system depends on the performance of all individual units—which include execution units like integer, branch and floating point, I/O units, bus, caches and memory systems. The gap between processor speed and main memory speed has grown exponentially. Until 2001–05, CPU speed, as measured by clock frequency, grew annually by 55%, whereas memory speed only grew by 7%. This problem is known as the memory wall. The motivation for a cache and its hierarchy is to bridge this speed gap and overcome the memory wall. The critical component in most high-performance computers is the cache. Since the cache exists to bridge the speed gap, its performance measurement and metrics are important in designing and choosing various parameters like cache size, associativity, replacem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cache Hierarchy
Cache hierarchy, or multi-level caches, refers to a memory architecture that uses a hierarchy of memory stores based on varying access speeds to cache data. Highly requested data is cached in high-speed access memory stores, allowing swifter access by central processing unit (CPU) cores. Cache hierarchy is a form and part of memory hierarchy and can be considered a form of tiered storage. This design was intended to allow CPU cores to process faster despite the memory latency of main memory access. Accessing main memory can act as a bottleneck for CPU core performance as the CPU waits for data, while making all of main memory high-speed may be prohibitively expensive. High-speed caches are a compromise allowing high-speed access to the data most-used by the CPU, permitting a faster CPU clock. Background In the history of computer and electronic chip development, there was a period when increases in CPU speed outpaced the improvements in memory access speed. The gap between the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microarchitecture
In computer engineering, microarchitecture, also called computer organization and sometimes abbreviated as µarch or uarch, is the way a given instruction set architecture (ISA) is implemented in a particular processor. A given ISA may be implemented with different microarchitectures; implementations may vary due to different goals of a given design or due to shifts in technology. Computer architecture is the combination of microarchitecture and instruction set architecture. Relation to instruction set architecture The ISA is roughly the same as the programming model of a processor as seen by an assembly language programmer or compiler writer. The ISA includes the instructions, execution model, processor registers, address and data formats among other things. The microarchitecture includes the constituent parts of the processor and how these interconnect and interoperate to implement the ISA. The microarchitecture of a machine is usually represented as (more or less detai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cache Miss
In computing, a cache ( ) is a hardware or software component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. A ''cache hit'' occurs when the requested data can be found in a cache, while a ''cache miss'' occurs when it cannot. Cache hits are served by reading data from the cache, which is faster than recomputing a result or reading from a slower data store; thus, the more requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the system performs. To be cost-effective and to enable efficient use of data, caches must be relatively small. Nevertheless, caches have proven themselves in many areas of computing, because typical computer applications access data with a high degree of locality of reference. Such access patterns exhibit temporal locality, where data is requested that has been recently requested already, and spatial locality, where d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Data Storage
Computer data storage is a technology consisting of computer components and Data storage, recording media that are used to retain digital data (computing), data. It is a core function and fundamental component of computers. The central processing unit (CPU) of a computer is what manipulates data by performing computations. In practice, almost all computers use a memory hierarchy, storage hierarchy, which puts fast but expensive and small storage options close to the CPU and slower but less expensive and larger options further away. Generally, the fast volatile technologies (which lose data when off power) are referred to as "memory", while slower persistent technologies are referred to as "storage". Even the first computer designs, Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine and Percy Ludgate's Analytical Machine, clearly distinguished between processing and memory (Babbage stored numbers as rotations of gears, while Ludgate stored numbers as displacements of rods in shuttles). Thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
