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Sampled simulation is a mature technique for reducing simulation time of single-threaded programs. Nevertheless, current sampling techniques do not take advantage of other execution models, like task-based execution, to provide both more accurate and faster simulation. Recent multi-threaded sampling techniques assume that the workload assigned to each thread does not change across multiple executions of a program. This assumption does not hold for dynamically scheduled task-based programming models. Task-based programming models allow the programmer to specify program segments as tasks which are instantiated many times and scheduled dynamically to available threads. Due to variation in scheduling decisions, two consecutive executions on the same machine typically result in different instruction streams processed by each thread. In this paper, we propose TaskPoint, a sampled simulation technique for dynamically scheduled task-based programs. We leverage task instances as sampling units and simulate only a fraction of all task instances in detail. Between detailed simulation intervals, we employ a novel fast-forwarding mechanism for dynamically scheduled programs. We evaluate different automatic techniques for clustering task instances and show that DBSCAN clustering combined with analytical performance modeling provides the best trade-off of simulation speed and accuracy. TaskPoint is the first technique combining sampled simulation and analytical modeling and provides a new way to trade off simulation speed and accuracy. Compared to detailed simulation, TaskPoint accelerates architectural simulation with 8 simulated threads by an average factor of 220x at an average error of 0.5 percent and a maximum error of 7.9 percent.

Modern graphics rendering is a very expensive process and can account for 60% of the battery consumption on current games. Much of the cost comes from the high memory bandwidth of rendering complex graphics. To render a frame, multiple smaller rendering passes called scenes are executed, with each one tiled for parallel execution. The data for each scene comes from hundreds of software resources (textures). We observe that each frame can consume up to 1000s of MB of data, but that over 75% of the graphics memory accesses are to the top-10 resources, and that bypassing the remaining infrequently accessed (tail) resources reduces cache pollution. Bypassing the tail can save up to 35% of the main memory traffic over resource-oblivious replacement policies and cache management techniques. In this paper, we propose Tail-PASS, a cache management technique that detects the most accessed resources at runtime, learns if it is worth bypassing the least accessed ones, and then dynamically enables/disables bypassing to reduce cache pollution on a per-scene basis. Overall, we see an average reduction in bandwidth-per-frame of 22% (up to 46%) by bypassing all but the top-10 resources and an 11% (up to 44%) reduction if only the top-2 resources are cached.

Maximizing the performance of computer systems while making them more energy efficient is vital for future developments in engineering, medicine, entertainment, etc. However, the increasing complexity of software, hardware, and their interactions makes this task difficult. Software developers have to deal with complex memory architectures such as multilevel caches on modern CPUs and keeping thousands of cores busy in GPUs, which makes the programming process harder.

Task-based programming provides high-level abstractions to simplify the development process. In this model, independent tasks (functions) are submitted to a runtime system, which orchestrates their execution across hardware resources. This approach has become popular and successful because the runtime can distribute the workload across hardware resources automatically, and has the potential to optimize the execution to minimize data movement (e.g., being aware of the cache hierarchy).

However, to build better runtime systems, we now need to understand bottlenecks in the performance of current and future multicore architectures. Unfortunately, since most current work was designed for sequential or thread-based workloads, there is an overall lack of tools and methods to gain insight about the execution of these applications, allowing both the runtime and the programmers to detect potential optimizations.

In this thesis, we address this lack of tools by providing fast, accurate and mathematically-sound models to understand the execution of task-based applications. In particular, we center these models around three key aspects of the execution: memory behavior (data locality), scheduling, and performance. Our contributions provide insight into the interplay between the schedule's behavior, data reuse through the cache hierarchy, and the resulting performance. These contributions lay the groundwork for improving runtime systems. We first apply these methods to analyze a diverse set of CPU applications, and then leverage them to one of the most common workloads in current systems: graphics rendering on GPUs.

Making computer systems more energy efficient while obtaining the maximum performance possible is key for future developments in engineering, medicine, entertainment, etc. However it has become a difficult task due to the increasing complexity of hardware and software, and their interactions. For example, developers have to deal with deep, multi-level cache hierarchies on modern CPUs, and keep busy thousands of cores in GPUs, which makes the programming process more difficult.

To simplify this task, new abstractions and programming models are becoming popular. Their goal is to make applications more scalable and efficient, while still providing the flexibility and portability of old, widely adopted models. One example of this is task-based programming, where simple independent tasks (functions) are delegated to a runtime system which orchestrates their execution. This approach has been successful because the runtime can automatically distribute work across hardware cores and has the potential to minimize data movement and placement (e.g., being aware of the cache hierarchy).

To build better runtime systems, it is crucial to understand bottlenecks in the performance of current and future multicore systems. In this thesis, we provide fast, accurate and mathematically-sound models and techniques to understand the execution of task-based applications concerning three key aspects: memory behavior (data locality), scheduling, and performance. With these methods, we lay the groundwork for improving runtime system, providing insight into the interplay between the schedule's behavior, data reuse through the cache hierarchy, and the resulting performance.