Threshold Search Failure Analysis for Code Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Code authors and editors face challenges in optimizing software performance due to errors exposed by code development options, which are tedious and difficult to investigate, often leading to abandoning potentially beneficial optimizations.
Innovation Solution
A failure analysis tool automatically searches for a threshold within a range of code development option values to identify a valid subset that avoids errors, allowing for the utilization of optimizations without sacrificing performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If code development options with range of values are applied to optimize software performance, then performance improvement is achieved, but errors may be exposed that prevent successful execution
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by systematically varying the value parameter of code development options within their specified ranges. The failure analysis tool tests different parameter values (e.g., optimization levels from 0 to 3) to identify which specific parameter settings produce errors versus successful execution, thereby resolving the contradiction between achieving performance improvement and maintaining execution success.
2Reliability
If code authors manually investigate errors exposed by code development options, then error identification may occur, but significant time and resources are consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by creating an automated failure analysis tool that performs error identification without requiring manual code author involvement. The tool autonomously executes code with various code development option settings, detects errors, analyzes failure patterns, and identifies problematic options, thereby eliminating the time-consuming manual investigation process while maintaining reliable error identification.
3Reliability
If code development options are abandoned to avoid errors, then execution reliability is maintained, but performance optimization benefits are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by breaking down the range of code development option values into discrete testable segments. Instead of abandoning entire code development options, the failure analysis tool segments the value range (e.g., testing optimization levels 0, 1, 2, 3 separately) to identify which specific segments produce errors. This allows selective application of safe optimization levels while avoiding problematic ones, thereby maintaining both execution success and performance optimization benefits.
Data Source
AI summary
A value range for a code development option, which results in an error when applied to a given code, can be automatically searched to intelligently identify a threshold for the error within the value range. Instead of completely abandoning the optimizations offered by a code development option with a value range, the code development option as applied to a given code can be limited to a subrange of the value range, thus imbuing the given code with at least the optimizations offered by the code development option with the subrange. A failure analysis tool searches, for example according to binary search, a value range. Subranges are applied to the given code and results examined to influence successive selections of subranges. Eventually, a threshold, if any, is discovered that separates a subrange that does not result in error from a subrange that results in error.