[llvm-dev] LoopVectorize module - some possible enhancements

[Alex Susu via llvm-dev]

   Hello, Michael,
     I'd like to ask if we can enhance the LoopVectorize LLVM module (I am currently using 
a version from Jul 2016).

     More exactly:
     - do you envision to support in the near future LLVM IR gather and scatter intrinsics 
(as described at http://llvm.org/docs/LangRef.html#llvm-masked-gather-intrinsics and scatter)?
       I see you have defined some methods that should use them like:
         - bool isLegalMaskedGather(Type *DataType);
         - void InnerLoopVectorizer::vectorizeMemoryInstruction(Instruction *Instr) which 
defines a bool CreateGatherScatter, etc
       I gave to clang a simple vector add C program with step/stride 2 with flag "-avx2", 
but the resulting vector code does NOT use gather nor scatter.

     - did you try to consider pathological cases of loops such as:
       for (int i = 0; i < N; i += 2) {
           C[i/2] = A[i/2] + B[i/2];
       }
      which does NOT get vectorized with my version of LoopVectorize, although it's simple 
to reason it's trivial to vectorize.

     One more question: how can I obtain an expression for the bounds and the step of the 
original loop? For example, when I print the ScalarEvolution object in 
LoopVectorizationLegality::isConsecutivePtr(), I can get the value reported in "Exits" for 
the indvars.iv instruction which is the upper bound for the loop getting vectorized.


   Thank you,
     Alex