Developing Heuristics for the Graph Coloring Problem Applied to Register Allocation in Embedded Systems

The main aim of this paper consists in developing an effective e-learning tool, focused on evolutionary algorithms, in order to solve the graph coloring problem. Subsidiary, we apply graph coloring for register allocation in embedded systems. From didactic viewpoint, our tool has benefits in the learning process because it helps students to observe the relationship between the graph coloring problem and CPU registers allocation with the help of four developed modules: the two evolutionary algorithms (Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization), the graphical viewer, the interference graph for a C program and a web application which collects the simulation results. All these applications are combined by a graphical interface which allows the user to configure the parameters of the genetic algorithm and to analyze their effect over the convergence.