Source-to-Source Instrumentation for the Optimization of an Automatic Reading System

Recording address traces that occur during a program execution is a significant technique for computer performance analysis. This paper describes a software method for address tracing via the instrumentation of C based languages. All program transformations are performed at the language level. This approach, which differs from the usual methods, allows portable and flexible program instrumentation. This tool has been developed to make easier the memory optimization of LIREChèques, an automatic bank check reading system. Two applications of the tool are clearly identified: (i) data cache use optimization, (ii) dynamic memory use optimization.