Advanced Compiler and Runtime Optimizations for ML Workloads
Chapter 1: Foundation: ML Execution Stack and Challenges
The ML Model Deployment Gap
Overview of ML Compiler and Runtime Stacks
Performance Bottlenecks in ML Inference
Hardware for ML Acceleration
The Need for Specialized Optimizations
Chapter 2: Advanced Intermediate Representations for ML
Limitations of Traditional Compiler IRs
Principles of Multi-Level IRs
MLIR: Dialects and Operations
Representing High-Level ML Graphs (e.g., TF, TOSA)
Lowering Paths within MLIR
Extensibility and Custom Dialects
Hands-on Practical: Analyzing MLIR Representations
Chapter 3: Advanced Graph-Level Optimizations
Graph Rewriting Systems
Aggressive Operator Fusion Techniques
Memory-Aware Layout Transformations
Advanced Algebraic Simplification
Static Memory Planning and Allocation
Handling Control Flow in Graphs
Hands-on Practical: Implementing a Fusion Pass
Chapter 4: Tensor-Level Optimizations and Polyhedral Modeling
Representing Tensor Computations as Loop Nests
Introduction to Polyhedral Modeling
Iteration Domains, Access Functions, and Dependencies
Scheduling Transformations (Skewing, Tiling)
Code Generation from Polyhedral Schedules
Auto-Vectorization Techniques (SIMD)
Memory Hierarchy Optimization: Tiling and Prefetching
Hands-on Practical: Optimizing Loops with Polyhedral Tools
Chapter 5: Code Generation for Heterogeneous Hardware
Target-Specific Instruction Selection
Register Allocation for Vector/Matrix Units
GPU Code Generation: CUDA and ROCm Backends
Generating Code for Tensor Cores and Matrix Units
Targeting AI Accelerators (TPUs, NPUs)
Intermediate Formats for Heterogeneous Execution (SPIR-V)
Vendor-Specific Compiler Toolchains and Libraries (cuDNN, MIOpen)
Hands-on Practical: Analyzing Generated GPU Kernels
Chapter 6: Advanced Runtime Systems for ML
Runtime Architecture Overview
Handling Dynamic Shapes and Sizes
Efficient Memory Management Strategies
Asynchronous Execution and Scheduling
Scheduling for Heterogeneous Systems
Integrating Custom Operators and Kernels
Interoperability with ML Frameworks
Hands-on Practical: Implementing a Simple Allocator
Chapter 7: Just-In-Time (JIT) Compilation Techniques for ML
Motivation for JIT Compilation in ML
Tracing vs. Scripting Approaches
Intermediate Representation in JIT Systems
Runtime Specialization and Polymorphism
Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO) in JITs
Adaptive and Multi-Tier Compilation
Case Study: TensorFlow XLA
Case Study: PyTorch JIT (TorchScript)
Hands-on Practical: Analyzing JIT Compiled Code
Chapter 8: Quantization and Low-Precision Optimizations
Fundamentals of Model Quantization (INT8, FP8)
Representing Quantized Operations in IR
Compiler Passes for Quantization-Aware Training (QAT)
Post-Training Quantization (PTQ) Compilation Flows
Generating Low-Precision Kernels
Mixed-Precision Computation Optimization
Handling Quantization Scales and Zero Points
Hands-on Practical: Lowering Quantized Operations
Chapter 9: Profiling and Performance Analysis Tools
Challenges in Profiling Compiled ML Code
System-Level Profiling (CPU, GPU, Interconnect)
CPU Performance Analysis (VTune, perf)
GPU Kernel Profiling (Nsight Compute, ROCprof)
Correlating Framework Operations to Compiled Kernels
Memory Access Pattern Analysis
Interpreting Compiler Optimization Reports
Hands-on Practical: Profiling an Optimized Model
Aggressive Operator Fusion Techniques
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- TVM: An Automatic End-to-End Optimizing Compiler for Deep Learning, Tianqi Chen, Thierry Moreau, Ziheng Jiang, Lianmin Zheng, Eddie Yan, Haichen Shen, Meghan Cowan, Leyuan Wang, Yuwei Hu, Luis Ceze, Carlos Guestrin, and Arvind Krishnamurthy, 2018 Proceedings of the 13th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI '18) (USENIX Association) DOI: 10.1145/3294344.3259969 - Details graph-level optimizations, including operator fusion techniques and cost modeling, implemented in the TVM deep learning compiler framework.
- AOT compilation with XLA, TensorFlow Authors, 2024 - Official documentation explaining Ahead-Of-Time (AOT) compilation with XLA, highlighting how it performs graph optimizations like aggressive operator fusion to enhance performance.
- Graph-Level Optimization for Deep Learning Compilers: A Survey, Tan Wang, Peng Li, Jinchen Wu, Junhao Wen, Zhaoyang Zhang, Yu Zhang, 2019 ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 52 (Association for Computing Machinery) DOI: 10.1145/3342371 - Comprehensive survey of graph-level optimizations in deep learning compilers, dedicating sections to various operator fusion strategies and their underlying principles.
- TensorFlow: A System for Large-Scale Machine Learning, Martín Abadi, Paul Barham, Jianmin Chen, Zhifeng Chen, Andy Davis, Jeffrey Dean, Matthieu Devin, Sanjay Ghemawat, Geoffrey Irving, Michael Isard, Manjunath Kudlur, Josh Levenberg, Rajat Monga, Sherry Moore, Derek G. Murray, Benoit Steiner, Paul Tucker, Vijay Vasudevan, Pete Warden, Martin Wicke, Yuan Yu, and Xiaoqiang Zheng, 2016 Proceedings of the 12th USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI '16) (USENIX Association) DOI: 10.1145/2996901.2996906 - Foundational paper introducing the TensorFlow system architecture, providing essential context for understanding subsequent graph optimization components like XLA and their fusion capabilities.