Quantifying performance Benchmarks

Performance must be measured to: Assess the behavior of a computing system. Compare various systems. Optimize utilization. Remove bottlenecks. Quantifying performance is a daunting task: Systems are distinct from one another. They are very complex. Handle a broad variety of applications and data. Metrics Latency: time to complete an action: deliver a message, execute a program, fulfill a request… According to the scenario it can be expressed in terms of: execution time or response time too. Throughput: tasks completed per time unit: instructions, messages, queries… Throughput = 1 / latency only when no overlap is produced (instruction or message pipe-line). Otherwise throughput> 1 / latency. Benchmark