Confidence-driven selective predication of processor instructions

A computer program product comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to:
• determine that a first instruction instance is a first branch instruction instance;
• responsive to a determination that the first instruction instance is the first branch instruction instance, obtaining a first branch prediction for the first branch instruction instance and a first confidence level of the first branch prediction, wherein the first branch prediction and the first confidence level are based, at least in part, on a history of branch executions for a program that comprises the first branch instruction instance;
• determine that the first confidence level is below a threshold;
• and
• responsive to determining that the first confidence level is below the threshold, generate predicated instruction instances based on the first branch instruction instance.

An apparatus comprising:

• a network interface;
• memory;
• and
• a processor coupled with the network interface and the memory, configured to:
• determine that a first instruction instance is a first branch instruction instance;
• responsive to a determination that the first instruction instance is the first branch instruction instance, obtaining a first branch prediction for the first branch instruction instance and a first confidence level of the first branch prediction, wherein the first branch prediction and the first confidence level are based, at least in part, on a history of branch executions for a program that comprises the first branch instruction instance;
• determine that the first confidence level is below a threshold;
• and
• responsive to determining that the first confidence level is below the threshold, generate predicated instruction instances based on the first branch instruction instance.