Java – How does the JVM decided to JIT-compile a method (categorize a method as “hot”)

javajitjvmjvm-hotspot

I already worked with -XX:+PrintCompilation, and I know the basic techniques of the JIT-compiler and why JIT-compilation is used.

Yet I still have not found out how the JVM decides to JIT-compile a method, i.e. "when the right time has come to JIT-compile a method".

Am I right in the assumption that every method starts being interpreted, and as long as it is not categorized as "hot method" it will not be compiled? I have something in the back of my head that I read that a method is considered "hot" when it was executed at least 10.000 times (after interpreting the method 10.000 times, it will be compiled), but I have to admit that I am not sure about this or where I've read this.

So to sum up my question:

(1) Is every method interpreted as long as it not has been categorized as "hot" method (and therefore has been compiled) or are there reasons for methods to get compiled even if they are not "hot"?

(2) How does the JVM categorize methods into "non-hot" and "hot" methods? Number of execution? Anything else?

(3) If there are certain thresholds (like number of executions) for "hot" methods, are there Java flags (-XX:...) to set this thresholds?

Best Answer

HotSpot compilation policy is rather complex, especially for Tiered Compilation, which is on by default in Java 8. It's neither a number of executions, nor a matter of CompileThreshold parameter.

The best explanation (apparently, the only reasonable explanation) can be found in HotSpot sources, see advancedThresholdPolicy.hpp.

I'll summarize the main points of this advanced compilation policy:

Execution starts at tier 0 (interpreter).
The main triggers for compilation are
1. method invocation counter i;
2. backedge counter b. Backward branches typically denote a loop in the code.
Every time counters reach certain frequency value (TierXInvokeNotifyFreqLog, TierXBackedgeNotifyFreqLog), a compilation policy is called to decide what to do next with currently running method. Depending on the values of i, b and current load of C1 and C2 compiler threads it can be decided to
- continue execution in interpreter;
- start profiling in interpreter;
- compile method with C1 at tier 3 with full profile data required for futher recompilation;
- compile method with C1 at tier 2 with no profile but with possibility to recompile (unlikely);
- finally compile method with C1 at tier 1 with no profile or counters (also unlikely).
Key parameters here are TierXInvocationThreshold and TierXBackEdgeThreshold. Thresholds can be dynamically adjusted for a given method depending on the length of compilation queue.
Compilation queue is not FIFO, but rather a priority queue.
C1-compiled code with profile data (tier 3) behave similarly, except that thresholds for switching to the next level (C2, tier 4) are much bigger. E.g. an interpreted method can be compiled at tier 3 after about 200 invocations, while C1-compiled method is subject for recompilation at tier 4 after 5000+ invocations.
A special policy is used for method inlining. Tiny methods can be inlined into the caller even if they are not "hot". A bit larger methods can be inlined only if they are invoked frequently (InlineFrequencyRatio, InlineFrequencyCount).

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Java – How does the Java ‘for each’ loop work

for (Iterator<String> i = someIterable.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
    String item = i.next();
    System.out.println(item);
}

Note that if you need to use i.remove(); in your loop, or access the actual iterator in some way, you cannot use the for ( : ) idiom, since the actual iterator is merely inferred.

As was noted by Denis Bueno, this code works for any object that implements the Iterable interface.

Also, if the right-hand side of the for (:) idiom is an array rather than an Iterable object, the internal code uses an int index counter and checks against array.length instead. See the Java Language Specification.

Java – Fastest way to determine if an integer’s square root is an integer

I figured out a method that works ~35% faster than your 6bits+Carmack+sqrt code, at least with my CPU (x86) and programming language (C/C++). Your results may vary, especially because I don't know how the Java factor will play out.

My approach is threefold:

First, filter out obvious answers. This includes negative numbers and looking at the last 4 bits. (I found looking at the last six didn't help.) I also answer yes for 0. (In reading the code below, note that my input is int64 x.)
```
if( x < 0 || (x&2) || ((x & 7) == 5) || ((x & 11) == 8) )
    return false;
if( x == 0 )
    return true;
```
Next, check if it's a square modulo 255 = 3 * 5 * 17. Because that's a product of three distinct primes, only about 1/8 of the residues mod 255 are squares. However, in my experience, calling the modulo operator (%) costs more than the benefit one gets, so I use bit tricks involving 255 = 2^8-1 to compute the residue. (For better or worse, I am not using the trick of reading individual bytes out of a word, only bitwise-and and shifts.)
```
int64 y = x;
y = (y & 4294967295LL) + (y >> 32); 
y = (y & 65535) + (y >> 16);
y = (y & 255) + ((y >> 8) & 255) + (y >> 16);
// At this point, y is between 0 and 511.  More code can reduce it farther.
```
To actually check if the residue is a square, I look up the answer in a precomputed table.
```
if( bad255[y] )
    return false;
// However, I just use a table of size 512
```
Finally, try to compute the square root using a method similar to Hensel's lemma. (I don't think it's applicable directly, but it works with some modifications.) Before doing that, I divide out all powers of 2 with a binary search:
```
if((x & 4294967295LL) == 0)
    x >>= 32;
if((x & 65535) == 0)
    x >>= 16;
if((x & 255) == 0)
    x >>= 8;
if((x & 15) == 0)
    x >>= 4;
if((x & 3) == 0)
    x >>= 2;
```
At this point, for our number to be a square, it must be 1 mod 8.
```
if((x & 7) != 1)
    return false;
```
The basic structure of Hensel's lemma is the following. (Note: untested code; if it doesn't work, try t=2 or 8.)
```
int64 t = 4, r = 1;
t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
t <<= 1; r += ((x - r * r) & t) >> 1;
// Repeat until t is 2^33 or so.  Use a loop if you want.
```
The idea is that at each iteration, you add one bit onto r, the "current" square root of x; each square root is accurate modulo a larger and larger power of 2, namely t/2. At the end, r and t/2-r will be square roots of x modulo t/2. (Note that if r is a square root of x, then so is -r. This is true even modulo numbers, but beware, modulo some numbers, things can have even more than 2 square roots; notably, this includes powers of 2.) Because our actual square root is less than 2^32, at that point we can actually just check if r or t/2-r are real square roots. In my actual code, I use the following modified loop:
```
int64 r, t, z;
r = start[(x >> 3) & 1023];
do {
    z = x - r * r;
    if( z == 0 )
        return true;
    if( z < 0 )
        return false;
    t = z & (-z);
    r += (z & t) >> 1;
    if( r > (t >> 1) )
        r = t - r;
} while( t <= (1LL << 33) );
```
The speedup here is obtained in three ways: precomputed start value (equivalent to ~10 iterations of the loop), earlier exit of the loop, and skipping some t values. For the last part, I look at z = r - x * x, and set t to be the largest power of 2 dividing z with a bit trick. This allows me to skip t values that wouldn't have affected the value of r anyway. The precomputed start value in my case picks out the "smallest positive" square root modulo 8192.

Even if this code doesn't work faster for you, I hope you enjoy some of the ideas it contains. Complete, tested code follows, including the precomputed tables.

typedef signed long long int int64;

int start[1024] =
{1,3,1769,5,1937,1741,7,1451,479,157,9,91,945,659,1817,11,
1983,707,1321,1211,1071,13,1479,405,415,1501,1609,741,15,339,1703,203,
129,1411,873,1669,17,1715,1145,1835,351,1251,887,1573,975,19,1127,395,
1855,1981,425,453,1105,653,327,21,287,93,713,1691,1935,301,551,587,
257,1277,23,763,1903,1075,1799,1877,223,1437,1783,859,1201,621,25,779,
1727,573,471,1979,815,1293,825,363,159,1315,183,27,241,941,601,971,
385,131,919,901,273,435,647,1493,95,29,1417,805,719,1261,1177,1163,
1599,835,1367,315,1361,1933,1977,747,31,1373,1079,1637,1679,1581,1753,1355,
513,1539,1815,1531,1647,205,505,1109,33,1379,521,1627,1457,1901,1767,1547,
1471,1853,1833,1349,559,1523,967,1131,97,35,1975,795,497,1875,1191,1739,
641,1149,1385,133,529,845,1657,725,161,1309,375,37,463,1555,615,1931,
1343,445,937,1083,1617,883,185,1515,225,1443,1225,869,1423,1235,39,1973,
769,259,489,1797,1391,1485,1287,341,289,99,1271,1701,1713,915,537,1781,
1215,963,41,581,303,243,1337,1899,353,1245,329,1563,753,595,1113,1589,
897,1667,407,635,785,1971,135,43,417,1507,1929,731,207,275,1689,1397,
1087,1725,855,1851,1873,397,1607,1813,481,163,567,101,1167,45,1831,1205,
1025,1021,1303,1029,1135,1331,1017,427,545,1181,1033,933,1969,365,1255,1013,
959,317,1751,187,47,1037,455,1429,609,1571,1463,1765,1009,685,679,821,
1153,387,1897,1403,1041,691,1927,811,673,227,137,1499,49,1005,103,629,
831,1091,1449,1477,1967,1677,697,1045,737,1117,1737,667,911,1325,473,437,
1281,1795,1001,261,879,51,775,1195,801,1635,759,165,1871,1645,1049,245,
703,1597,553,955,209,1779,1849,661,865,291,841,997,1265,1965,1625,53,
1409,893,105,1925,1297,589,377,1579,929,1053,1655,1829,305,1811,1895,139,
575,189,343,709,1711,1139,1095,277,993,1699,55,1435,655,1491,1319,331,
1537,515,791,507,623,1229,1529,1963,1057,355,1545,603,1615,1171,743,523,
447,1219,1239,1723,465,499,57,107,1121,989,951,229,1521,851,167,715,
1665,1923,1687,1157,1553,1869,1415,1749,1185,1763,649,1061,561,531,409,907,
319,1469,1961,59,1455,141,1209,491,1249,419,1847,1893,399,211,985,1099,
1793,765,1513,1275,367,1587,263,1365,1313,925,247,1371,1359,109,1561,1291,
191,61,1065,1605,721,781,1735,875,1377,1827,1353,539,1777,429,1959,1483,
1921,643,617,389,1809,947,889,981,1441,483,1143,293,817,749,1383,1675,
63,1347,169,827,1199,1421,583,1259,1505,861,457,1125,143,1069,807,1867,
2047,2045,279,2043,111,307,2041,597,1569,1891,2039,1957,1103,1389,231,2037,
65,1341,727,837,977,2035,569,1643,1633,547,439,1307,2033,1709,345,1845,
1919,637,1175,379,2031,333,903,213,1697,797,1161,475,1073,2029,921,1653,
193,67,1623,1595,943,1395,1721,2027,1761,1955,1335,357,113,1747,1497,1461,
1791,771,2025,1285,145,973,249,171,1825,611,265,1189,847,1427,2023,1269,
321,1475,1577,69,1233,755,1223,1685,1889,733,1865,2021,1807,1107,1447,1077,
1663,1917,1129,1147,1775,1613,1401,555,1953,2019,631,1243,1329,787,871,885,
449,1213,681,1733,687,115,71,1301,2017,675,969,411,369,467,295,693,
1535,509,233,517,401,1843,1543,939,2015,669,1527,421,591,147,281,501,
577,195,215,699,1489,525,1081,917,1951,2013,73,1253,1551,173,857,309,
1407,899,663,1915,1519,1203,391,1323,1887,739,1673,2011,1585,493,1433,117,
705,1603,1111,965,431,1165,1863,533,1823,605,823,1179,625,813,2009,75,
1279,1789,1559,251,657,563,761,1707,1759,1949,777,347,335,1133,1511,267,
833,1085,2007,1467,1745,1805,711,149,1695,803,1719,485,1295,1453,935,459,
1151,381,1641,1413,1263,77,1913,2005,1631,541,119,1317,1841,1773,359,651,
961,323,1193,197,175,1651,441,235,1567,1885,1481,1947,881,2003,217,843,
1023,1027,745,1019,913,717,1031,1621,1503,867,1015,1115,79,1683,793,1035,
1089,1731,297,1861,2001,1011,1593,619,1439,477,585,283,1039,1363,1369,1227,
895,1661,151,645,1007,1357,121,1237,1375,1821,1911,549,1999,1043,1945,1419,
1217,957,599,571,81,371,1351,1003,1311,931,311,1381,1137,723,1575,1611,
767,253,1047,1787,1169,1997,1273,853,1247,413,1289,1883,177,403,999,1803,
1345,451,1495,1093,1839,269,199,1387,1183,1757,1207,1051,783,83,423,1995,
639,1155,1943,123,751,1459,1671,469,1119,995,393,219,1743,237,153,1909,
1473,1859,1705,1339,337,909,953,1771,1055,349,1993,613,1393,557,729,1717,
511,1533,1257,1541,1425,819,519,85,991,1693,503,1445,433,877,1305,1525,
1601,829,809,325,1583,1549,1991,1941,927,1059,1097,1819,527,1197,1881,1333,
383,125,361,891,495,179,633,299,863,285,1399,987,1487,1517,1639,1141,
1729,579,87,1989,593,1907,839,1557,799,1629,201,155,1649,1837,1063,949,
255,1283,535,773,1681,461,1785,683,735,1123,1801,677,689,1939,487,757,
1857,1987,983,443,1327,1267,313,1173,671,221,695,1509,271,1619,89,565,
127,1405,1431,1659,239,1101,1159,1067,607,1565,905,1755,1231,1299,665,373,
1985,701,1879,1221,849,627,1465,789,543,1187,1591,923,1905,979,1241,181};

bool bad255[512] =
{0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,
 0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,
 1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,
 1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 0,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,
 0,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,
 1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,
 1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,0,1,1,
 1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,1,1,1,
 1,0,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,
 0,0};

inline bool square( int64 x ) {
    // Quickfail
    if( x < 0 || (x&2) || ((x & 7) == 5) || ((x & 11) == 8) )
        return false;
    if( x == 0 )
        return true;

    // Check mod 255 = 3 * 5 * 17, for fun
    int64 y = x;
    y = (y & 4294967295LL) + (y >> 32);
    y = (y & 65535) + (y >> 16);
    y = (y & 255) + ((y >> 8) & 255) + (y >> 16);
    if( bad255[y] )
        return false;

    // Divide out powers of 4 using binary search
    if((x & 4294967295LL) == 0)
        x >>= 32;
    if((x & 65535) == 0)
        x >>= 16;
    if((x & 255) == 0)
        x >>= 8;
    if((x & 15) == 0)
        x >>= 4;
    if((x & 3) == 0)
        x >>= 2;

    if((x & 7) != 1)
        return false;

    // Compute sqrt using something like Hensel's lemma
    int64 r, t, z;
    r = start[(x >> 3) & 1023];
    do {
        z = x - r * r;
        if( z == 0 )
            return true;
        if( z < 0 )
            return false;
        t = z & (-z);
        r += (z & t) >> 1;
        if( r > (t  >> 1) )
            r = t - r;
    } while( t <= (1LL << 33) );

    return false;
}

Best Answer

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