Intelligent GCC-ICC Compiler Stable and in Project Hands

An enhancement to the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) through the Interactive Compilation Interface (ICC) should allow the compiler to adapt to any environment, thereby freeing software developers to concentrate on performance optimization. At least that's the claim from IBM, which is participating in the Machine Learning for Embedded Programs Optimization (MILEPOST) research project for the EU. The MILEPOST version of GCC is now available for download in a stable version 4.4.

In the process, the project also provides the cTuning online platform, a developer project out of IBM Haifa, to help fine-tune the software. Participating developers can obtain the software and MILEPOST-GCC documentation to report back with effective collective optimization results. Beginning of June the research project released a set of developer benchmarking tools.

The first viable results came a year ago at the GCC Summit in Canada. The MILEPOST project, funded by the EU for around 1.7 Euro, includes work being done at the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) in France and its commercial offshoot CAPS Entreprise, the University of Edindburgh, ARC International, and IBM.