Measurement and rating of computer systems performance and of software efficiency

ISO has developed a new method to describe and measure performance for a wide range of data processing system types and applications. This solves the problems arising from the great variety of incompatible methods and performance terms which have been proposed and are used. The method is presented in the International Standard ISO/IEC 14756. This textbook is written both for performance experts and beginners, and academic users. On the one hand it introduces the latest techniques of performance measurement, and on the other hand it is a guide on how to apply the standard. The standard also includes additionally two advanced aspects. Firstly, it introduces a rating method to compute those performance values which are actually required by the user entirety (reference values) and a process which compares the reference values with the actual measured ones. This answers the question whether the measured performance satisfies the user entirety requirements. Secondly, the standard extends its method to assess the run-time efficiency of software. It introduces a method for quantifying and measuring this property both for application and system software. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of performance measurement which is further illustrated with exercises. Solutions are given for each exercise. As measurement cannot be performed manually, software tools are needed. All needed software is included on a CD supplied with this book and published by the author under GNU license. This software is not intended to be a tool for performing professional measurements, but enables the reader to realize all steps of a performance or software efficiency measurement.