The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as part of its Architecture Aware Compiler Environment Program, has awarded Rice University $16 million to develop a new set of tools that can improve the performance of virtually any application running on any microprocessor.
The PACE project -- short for "platform-aware compilation environment"
-- centers on ubiquitous computer programs called compilers. All
microprocessors -- not just those in PCs but also the ones powering cell phones,
game systems, cars and even electronic toys -- have their own compilers
to translate human-written computer applications into the binary 1s and
0s that a processor can execute.
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