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9. Profiling Functions

These functions are used by slprof for profiling slsh applications.

9.1 profile_on

Synopsis

Enable code generation to support profiling hooks

Usage

profile_on ( [line_by_line] )

Description

This function will turn cause the interpreter to generate code to call hooks that are used to profile code. The profile_on function does not establish those hooks, rather it causes code to be generated to support such hooks.

With no optional argument, only code to support function call hooks will be generated. To enable support for line-by-line profile hooks, a value of 1 should be passed to this function.

See Also

profile_off, profile_begin, profile_end, profile_calibrate, profile_report}

9.2 profile_off

Synopsis

Turn off code generation for profiling hooks

Usage

profile_off ()

Description

This function turns off the generation of code to support profiling hooks.

See Also

profile_on, profile_begin, profile_end, profile_calibrate, profile_report}

9.3 profile_begin

Synopsis

Establish profiling hooks and reset the profiler

Usage

profile_begin ( [line_by_line] )

Description

This function establishes the profiling hooks and resets or initializes the profiler state. By default, only hooks to gather function call information are created. To enable the gathering of line-by-line information, a value of 1 should be passed to this function.

See Also

profile_end, profile_on, profile_off, profile_calibrate, profile_report}

9.4 profile_end

Synopsis

Remove profiling hooks and turn off profiler code generation

Usage

profile_end ()

Description

The profile_end function turns off the code generation to support profiling hooks and removes any profiling hooks that are in place.

See Also

profile_begin, profile_on, profile_off, profile_calibrate, profile_report

9.5 profile_calibrate

Synopsis

Calibrate the profiler

Usage

profile_calibrate ([ N ])

Description

This function may be used to ``calibrate'' the profiler. As the performance of the profiler and the interpreter varies with a platform and load-dependent manner, this function should be called prior to enabling the profiler. It tries to determine the average amount of overhead per statement executed and function call by executing a series of statements and functions many times to determine statistically accurate values. The optional parameter N may be used to control the amount of code executed for the calibration process. If no value is provided, the N will default to 1000. The higher the value, the more accurate the calibration will be and the longer the calibration process will take.

See Also

profile_begin, profile_end, profile_on, profile_off, profile_report

9.6 profile_report

Synopsis

Generate the profile report

Usage

profile_report (file)

Description

The function may be used to format the profile report and write it to the specified file. If the file parameter represents a File_Type file descriptor, then the report will be written the the descriptor.

See Also

profile_begin, profile_end, profile_on, profile_off, profile_calibrate


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