A method of compiling source code. The method includes converting pointer-based access in the source code to array-based access in the source code in a first pass compilation of the source code. Information is collected for objects in the source code during the first pass compilation. Candidate objects in the source code are selected based on the collected information to form selected candidate objects. Global stride variables are created for the selected candidate objects. Memory allocation operations are updated for the selected candidate objects in a second pass compilation of the source code. Multiple-level pointer indirect references are replaced in the source code with multi-dimensional array indexed references for the selected candidate objects in the second pass compilation of the source code.