Friday, October 3, 2008

What Is Performance?

"More computing sins are committed in the name of efficiency (without necessarily achieving it) than for any other single reason-including blind stupidity."

W. A. Wulf

Before we can discuss how to improve performance, it's necessary to define what performance is. This isn't as simple as it sounds-people often mean very different things when they talk about performance. There are several aspects of performance, each of which contribute to the overall performance of an application.

Computers fascinate people with their ability to carry out tasks with blinding speed. When a computer, for whatever reason, doesn't perform a task quickly, users are disappointed. Developers often use the terms "speed" and "performance" interchangeably. However, to understand the different types of problems that can be encountered, all of the different aspects of performance must be considered:

  • Computational performance
  • RAM footprint
  • Startup time
  • Scalability
  • Perceived performance

These factors lay the foundation for a better understanding of the performance landscape. Some aspects of performance are primarily applicable to client-side systems, some to server-side systems, and some to both. Understanding how each factor can contribute to the performance characteristics of a system will help you analyze the performance of your own applications.

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