CS 4121/5121 Introduction to Compilers Practicum Spring 2019

2019 CS 4121/5121 Compiler Bakeoff

The “Best Compiler” title gives each member of the winning team both bragging rights and an attractive plaque announcing their excellence in the compiler-writing domain. PA7 submissions will be treated as submissions to the contest; however, performance in the bakeoff does not affect course grades.

Criteria

Compilers are compared using the following criteria, listed roughly in order of importance:

• Correctness of generated code and of compile-time error checking.
• Speed of the generated code across a wide selection of benchmarks, including object-oriented benchmarks.
• Length and clarity of the compiler implementation, and time required to compile the benchmark programs.

Benchmarks

Compilers are evaluated using several Xi and Xi++ programs, testing both language features and performance. These benchmarks test the performance of objects, arrays, loops, recursion, redundant computations, and more.

Contest results

The winning project team comprised Aaron Lou, Zicen Pan, Iris Zheng, and Sam Zhou. Their compiler was highly compliant with the language specifications and generated code that ran on average 30% faster than any of the competitors'.

Past Bakeoff Results and Winners

• 2018: Drew Dunne, Jacob Glueck, Alex Libman, and Daniel Wisner
• 2016: Gary Zibrat, Anu Reddy, and Kavan Bhavin
• 2011: Stephen Gutz, Gautam Kamath, and Gregory Zecchini
• 2009: Owen Arden, Catalin Dumitriu, Wenzel Jakob, and Danfeng Zhang
• 2001: Ben Hertzberg, Paul Jensen, Kay Tiong Khoo, and Chad Potocky
• 2000: Hao Kung, Matt Harren, Jared Tolman, and King Lun Choi