Re: Benchmarks - 1.3.11

dholland@husc.harvard.edu
Sun, 23 Jul 1995 12:47:53 -0400 (EDT)

> > Each test is run 20 times (10 for the most time-consuming). If I find the
> > time, I will add the calculation of the standard deviation.
>
> I would be interested in seeing that. Its all fine and well to say
> that task switching times or something has increased + or - 0.82% over
> the previous version, however when there haven't been any changes that
> could make a difference in such a thing, then you have to figre that
> you are actually detecting something else.

Any change can make a small difference in just about anything. Suppose
somebody added three lines of code to the SCSI driver, and this (by
being slightly larger) caused the task-switch code to lie across a
page boundary. Presto! A few more cycles every task-switch, probably,
and perhaps a 1% drop in switching performance.

Don't underestimate the effects of things like that. 

-- 
   - David A. Holland             | Peer pressure (n.): The force from the
     dholland@husc.harvard.edu    | eyeballs of everybody watching you.