loop discovery refers to the
process by which a compiler, or indeed any reader of a program,
determines which portions of the program are more likely to be executed
repeatedly as it is being run. Such discovery typically is done early
when compiling using optimization techniques, so the "discovered"
loops get more attention--and more run-time resources, such as
registers--from the compiler. It is easy to "discover" loops that are
constructed out of looping constructs in the language
(such as Fortran's DO). For some programs, "discovering" loops
constructed out of lower-level constructs (such as IF and
GOTO) can lead to generation of more optimal code
than otherwise.
The files generated like this can also be used for
inter-unit consistency checking of dummy and actual arguments, although
the ftnchek tool from @uref{ftp://ftp.netlib.org/fortran
No, not that one.