Reducing code size with run-time decompression

Compressed representations of programs can be used to improve the code density in embedded systems. Several hardware decompression architectures have been proposed recently. In this paper, we present a method of decompressing programs using software. It relies on using a software-managed instruction cache under control of the decompressor. This is achieved by employing a simple cache management instruction that allows explicit writing into a cache line. We also consider selective compression (determining which procedures in a program should be compressed) and show that selection based on cache miss profiles can substantially outperform the usual execution time based profiles for some benchmarks.

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