Method and apparatus for reduction of indirect branch instruction overhead through use of target address hints

A computer system utilizing a target address hint to minimize the effect on processing speed of indirect branches in a code of a program, comprising:

• a compiler configured to collect an associated branch profile data for an indirect branch instruction and to recompile the code of the program to determine a most-likely target address for the indirect branch instruction in response to the associated branch profile data during the recompilation of the code of the program, thereby creating a second code.

A method of reducing indirect branch instruction overhead, comprising:

• recompiling a code of a program to create a second code;
• and
• generating a profile-based target address hint for a most-likely target address of an indirect branch instruction during recompilation of the code, in response to a likelihood of the most-likely target address meets a threshold.

A computer system utilizing a target address hint to minimize the effect on processing speed of indirect branches in a code, comprising:

• a compiler configured to determine a most-likely target address for an indirect branch instruction of the code and to calculate a likelihood that the most-likely target address will be correct during recompilation of the code to create the second code.

A computer system utilizing a target address hint to minimize the effect on processing speed of indirect branches in a code, comprising:

• a compiler configured to recompile a code of a program to create a second code, wherein, during such recompilation, the compiler is further configured to generate a profile-based target address hint for a most-likely target address of an indirect branch instruction of the second code in response to a likelihood of the most-likely target address meets a certain threshold.