Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!strath-cs!jim From: jim@cs.strath.ac.uk (Jim Reid) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sequent Subject: Re: timing parallel programs Message-ID: <1882@baird.cs.strath.ac.uk> Date: 15 Feb 90 14:20:34 GMT References: <1324@csisles.Bristol.AC.UK> <1803@baird.cs.strath.ac.uk> Sender: news@cs.strath.ac.uk Reply-To: jim@cs.strath.ac.uk Organization: Comp. Sci. Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Scotland. Lines: 15 In article luis@octopus.tds.kth.se (Luis Barriga) writes: >2) I have read about a system call "getrusage" that gives info about >resource utilization: system, user time consumed, and other stuff. Is >there any problem using it? No, but the numbers it gives may not be reproducible. Paging statistics may be influenced by the amount of free memory when the process is run. The system time will probably include time spent processing interrupts *on behalf of other processes*. Likewise the I/O statistics may include counts for I/O for another process (i.e. starting the next disk transfer request in the queue after servicing an interrupt from the controller). If you plan on using getrusage for real, run your program several times to average out these potential inconsistencies. Jim