essential guide code profiling tool

8/13/2019 Essential Guide Code Profiling Tool

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2/162AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Application performance is crucial to a software companys success.

When code executes quickly and efciently, customers see an applica-

tion as responsive and reliable; they view it as a time saver. However,

when code goes into unnecessary loops, calls extraneous functions,

or trips over itself in some other way, customers have a very different

reaction. They may nd the application sluggish or unresponsive, and

come to see using it as a waste of time. If left unchecked, this ultimately

results in frustrated users, a damaged corporate reputation, and count-

less lost dollars in revenue.
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3/163AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

The Essential Guide to

Choosing a Code Proling Tool

Contents

How to Choose a Code Proling Tool....................................... 4

Why Should You Own a Proling Tool?.................................... 4

Life Without a Proling Tool...................................................... 5

Proler Use Challenges ............................................................ 6Low Impact, Integrated Proling Tool ................................................................6

Minimal Impact Proling ....................................................................................6

Ease of Use ......................................................................................................7

Multiple Measurements ..................................................................................... 7

Detailed Reporting ............................................................................................ 7

AQtime: SmartBears Proling Optimization Solution............... 8Minimal Intrusiveness ....................................................................................... 8

Easy to Use Interface........................................................................................ 8

Easy to Understand Reports ...........................................................................10

Support for a Multitude of Environments......................................................... 11

Support for a Wide Array of Languages .......................................................... 11

Proling Scripts ..............................................................................................12

Proling Java Applications .............................................................................. 12

Proling Silverlight Applications ...................................................................... 12

Fast ROI ................................................................................. 14

Cost Effective ......................................................................... 15

Learn More ............................................................................. 15


4/164AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

No matter how talented your development team is, very few lines of

code run at peak performance when theyre rst written. Code must

be analyzed, debugged, and reviewed to determine the most effective

way to make it run faster. How can software developers and quality

engineers ensure that their code is quick, efcient and ultimately seen

as valuable? The solution lies in using a proling tool to examine an

applications code, and locate and eliminate performance bottlenecks.

These tools can quickly diagnose how an application performs, and en-

able programmers to zero in on areas of poor performance. The result

is a streamlined code base that performs at or exceeds customers

expectations.

There are numerous reasons to invest in a proling tool. Maybe you

are part of a company who is employing (or looking to employ) an agile

software development process. One of agile developments hallmark

characteristics is short development cycles, which usually range from

two to eight weeks in length.

These short cycles leave little to no room for code refactoring or perfor-

mance tweaks. Thus, programmers need to ensure code runs efciently

from the outset of the project.

You might also be trying to keep pace with your end users rapidly

diminishing attention spans. In 1999, users were patient enough to wait

up to 8 seconds for a website to load. By 2006, the acceptable wait time

have decreased to 4 seconds. At that, more than one-third of online

shoppers with a poor experience abandoned the site entirely, while 75%

were likely not to shop on that site again. By 2012, more than half of

users would abandon a site after waiting for more than 3 seconds. No

company can afford that kind of negative attention.

How to Choose a Code Profiling Tool

Why Should You Own a Profiling Tool?
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5/165AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Optimizing code is challenging; it requires time, thought, and investiga-

tion from developers. Without the proper tools, programmers have to

fall back on slower, less efcient ways of trying to optimize their applica-

tions. Some developers take to pre-optimizing code; they guess where

performance problems will occur and refactor their code in an attempt

to eliminate problems before they appear. This approach is problematic

because a developer will often incorrectly diagnose the potential bottle-

neck. She may look only at her own code, instead of the full code base,

thus missing integration issues. She may not have insight into her target

users expected behavior, or she may focus on an area of code that isinfrequently used.

While well intended, this approach generally fails to nd any true perfor-

mance bottlenecks. Without a proling tool to help locate bottlenecks,

blind optimization only wastes

time, as shown in the graphic

above.

Simply choosing to not opti-

mize code is a bad idea as

well. No end user will want to

make a slow application part of

their daily life. If they become

frustrated enough, theyll start

looking for an alternative appli-

cation. Disgruntled users often

voice their opinions on blogs

and other message boards,

steering potential clients away from one companys products to another.

That kind of damage to a companys reputation can be irreparable, and

can cost the company countless dollars in lost revenue.

Life Without a Profiling Tool

Figure 1: Blind optimization is a timewaster


6/166AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Despite clear benets, programmers have been slow to adopt proling

tools. They complain that traditional prolers are invasive and difcult

to use. In some cases, programmers have found that certain prolers

added so much overhead to application execution that performance

data was skewed. Those prolers actually contributed to the problem

instead of solving it.

Low Impact, Integrated Proling Tool

Recently, a new generation of proling tools have begun to emerge.

This latest generation of prolers is not subject to many of the limitations

of their predecessors, and truly does speed up the optimization process.

The ideal proling tool integrates smoothly into your development

process and allows precise and accurate measurements of your codes

performance.

Minimal Impact Proling

Its important to select a proler which is as non-invasive as possible.

Some proling tools are highly invasive to an applications code; they

may actually require the code be modied so that the proler can take

accurate measurements. Because this could result in hundreds or

thousands of changes in the code, it has to be done by an automated

source-modication tool. Once this takes place, a developer no longerhas control over her code. When that happens, many people tend to

question if the proling tool itself may be injecting problems into the ap-

plication.

The proler you choose should not require any changes in source

code, and should not introduce so much overhead that the application

response time is impacted.

Profiler Use Challenges


7/167AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Ease of Use

Developers should select a proler that allows them to quickly and

easily diagnose performance problems in their code. If a user needs a

complex set of commands to perform a simple action, hes going to lookelsewhere to see if an easier solution exists. Additionally, because of the

increased demand to create high performance applications in less time,

developers dont have time to congure overly complicated tools.

A proler is meant to be something that speeds up the software lifecy-

cle, not bog it down further. Such a tool should have a minimal learning

curve, allowing developers to begin using it immediately.

Multiple Measurements

An ideal proler would allow a developer to prole his code in several

different ways. Having such a versatile proling tool ensures that a de-

veloper can be certain his code performs well with regard to a number of

factors; such as memory allocation, operating system resource usage,

and overall application performance. Its also essential that switching

between these various measurements be fast, easy, and intuitive, to

ensure developers have ample time to run them.

Detailed Reporting

All the information generated by a proler is worthless unless it can re-

port that information in a detailed, easy-to-understand fashion. Whether

the proler outputs HTML pages or Microsoft Word documents, the data

needs to be easy to interpret. Whats more, the reporting system needs

to be robust, providing all the information a developer needs, yet still

be exible enough so that the data can be ltered to show only whats

relevant.


8/168AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

AQtime is SmartBears award-winning performance proling and mem-

ory and resource debugging toolset for Microsoft, Java, Embacadero,

Borland, Intel, Compaq and GNU compilers.

AQtime includes dozens of productivity tools that help users easily

isolate and eliminate performance, memory and resource issues within

their code.

AQtime is built with one key objective - to help users completely under-

stand how their programs perform during execution. Using its integrated

set of performance and debugging prolers, AQtime collects crucial

performance and memory/resource allocation information at runtime. It

then delivers its prolers results both in summarized and detailed forms.

In short, AQtime provides you with all of the tools you need to begin the

optimization process, and provides the following advantages:

Minimal Intrusiveness

AQtime never modies source code. In fact, it always uses the least

intrusive method to achieve the requested results. Since one normally

expects results to refer to functions or sections of code, most AQtime

prolers require only that the application be compiled with debugger

information, so that code points can be linked to function or unit names.

Easy to Use InterfaceDevelopers dont need to learn complex shell commands or proprietary

programming languages to prole code with AQtime. It sports an intui-

tive interfacethat was designed with the busy programmer in mind. With

just a few clicks, a developer can isolate performance or resource is-

sues in a fraction of the time that other tools take. Whats more, AQtime

can function stand-alone or integrate directly into Microsoft Visual Studioor Embarcadero RAD Studio (and earlier versions of RAD Studio by

CodeGear and Borland). This feature provides you with the full AQtime

functionality without leaving your IDE of choice. You can create and

AQtime: SmartBears Profiling Optimization Solution
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9/169AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

manage AQtime projects, prole your applications, and view proling

results directly from the IDE.

AQtime extends the Visual Studio and RAD Studio IDEs in the following

ways:

Context Sensitive Proling.Right click in the Visual Studio orRAD Studio editor and select Prole this method or Prole this

class to start a new proling session. Its easy and natural.

Inline AQtime Panels.All AQtime panels - Setup, Report,Summary, Call Graph, Assistant, and others - become true Visual

Studio and RAD Studio panels.

Add a New AQtime Project Type.You can create AQtime projectsor add them to an existing Visual Studio/RAD Studio solution

the same way that you create or add other projects; by using the

Create Project and Add New Project dialogs of Visual Studio, or the

New Items dialog of RAD Studio.

AQtime Menu and Toolbar Integration.AQtime adds the Prolemenu to the IDEs main menu. This menu contains commands

that let you start, pause and resume proling, as well as select the

proling mode, modify the proler and panel options, etc.

In Visual Studio, project-specic commands, such as Add Module,

Add Output or Add Assembly, are added to the Project menu, and

are also available through the context menu of AQtimes project

node in the Solution Explorer.

In RAD Studio, a Run with Proling command is added to the Run

menu.

AQtime also adds the AQtime toolbar to both IDEs. This toolbar

contains the most frequently used items, such as Run, Select

Proler, etc. Contributing to the Visual Studio Automation Model. Theautomation model of Visual Studio provides users with the ability

to create custom add-ins, wizards, and work with macros. As a


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11/1611AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Support for a Multitude of Environments

AQtime supports a wide range of 32 and 64-bit chipsets from both AMD

and Intel. The supported operating systems are:

Microsoft Windows 8 (either 32-, or 64-bit edition)

Microsoft Windows Server 2012

Microsoft Windows 7 (either 32-, or 64-bit edition) Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (either 32-, or 64-bit edition) Microsoft Windows Vista (either 32-, or 64-bit edition) Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (either 32-, or 64-bit edition) Microsoft Windows XP (either 32-, or 64-bit edition)

The supported .NET Frameworks are: 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and4.5. See full list of System Requirements.

Figure 4:A sample report generatedby AQtime
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12/1612AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Support for a Wide Array of Languages

AQtime can prole code written in a wide variety of languages, includ-

ing:

For full list of supported compilers and versions, see Supported Devel-

opment Toolsin AQtime documentation.

Proling Scripts

AQtime Pro proles VBScript and JScript functions that are executed by

the Microsoft Scripting Engine. This engine is used by a considerable

number of applications, including Internet Explorer, Windows Script Host

and TestComplete. Therefore, you can use AQtime Pro to prole scripts

from web pages, standalone scripts, TestComplete scripts and many

more.

Proling Java Applications

With AQtime Pro, you can prole standalone 32- and 64-bit Java ap-

plications .class les, .jar archives and mixed code created for the

following platforms:

Sun Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 5.0 (J2SE 5.0) Sun Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (Java SE 6)

Microsoft Visual C# Microsoft Visual Basic GNU Compiler Collection Microsoft Visual J# Intel C++

Embarcadero RAD Studio Borland Delphi andC++Builder

Borland C#Builder Compaq Visual Fortran Others
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13/1613AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Proling Silverlight Applications

AQtime supports proling of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) created

with Silverlight 4. You can prole in-browser Silverlight applicationsrunning on a local computer or hosted on the Web, as well as out-of-

browser applications running on a local machine.

AQtime does not require any modication of existing Silverlight applica-

tion code.

A Variety of Metrics

AQtime boasts fourteen different proler mechanisms which can be

congured in several different ways. The end result is a exible solution

that allows users to easily ascertain those areas of most concern. The

following proler mechanisms are supported:

Performance Proler- Helps nd poor performing functions andaids in their debugging. It monitors all of the method calls in an

application, counts the calls, and traces the call hierarchy on a

thread-by-thread basis.

Allocation Proler- Helps you determine if an application isreleasing memory properly. It does this by tracing the memory use

in 32-bit and 64-bit applications during runtime.

Resource Proler - Monitors the applications execution andchecks whether the application creates Windows resources

correctly and releases all of the allocated resources. The proler

also tracks errors that occur when calling Windows API functions

that deal with resources.

Reference Count Proler - Tracks the number of referencesto COM objects that implement one or several interfaces. The

proler traces the creation and deletion of references and allows

you to pinpoint unreleased references or those that were released

prematurely.


14/1614AQtimePro

by SMARTBEAR

Coverage Proler- Lets you know how much of your code isactually being executed and tested. It determines whether a routine

or a line was executed during the proler run and how any times it

was executed.

Failure Emulator - This proler tracks one thing: whether yourapplications code contains lines that prevent the application from

an unexpected failure. For example, you may check whether the

application that has the .txt le as an input parameter behaves

correctly when you try to open a le you do not have permissions to

open. If the code contains needed lines, the application will not fail.

Otherwise, the conditions for the application failure are met and you

may see how your application behaves in an unexpected situation.

Static Analysis Proler- Exposes routines that may not be writtenfor optimal performance by analyzing debugging information or

metadata. In doing this, a wealth of information is exposed, such as

the number of loops in a routine, the size of the routines in bytes, all

the possible code branches in an application, and more. Exception Trace Proler - Lets you conrm that the appropriateerror messages are displayed for given circumstances. It monitors

the application execution and (if applicable) outputs exception trace

information.

Function Trace Proler- Shows what code is called and when,allowing you to make sure the most efcient code path is beingfollowed. It investigates the route and the order in which the

routines are called during the application runtime.

Load Library Tracer Proler- Loading and unloading dlls multipletimes can signicantly slow down an application. This proler

determines what dynamic link libraries were loaded and unloaded

by the proled application and how many times they were loaded

and unloaded.

Platform Compliance Proler- Lets you determine whether theproled application can work on a specic operating system.


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About SmartBear Software

More than one million developers, testers and operations profession-

als use SmartBear tools to ensure the quality and performance of their

APIs, desktop, mobile, Web and cloud-based applications. SmartBear

products are easy to use and deploy, are affordable and available for

trial at the website. Learn more about the companys award-winning

tools or join the active user community at http://www.smartbear.com, on

Facebookor follow us on Twitter @smartbearand Google+.

SmartBear Software, Inc. 100 Cummings Center, Suite 234N Beverly, MA 01915

+1 978.236.7900 www.smartbear.com
http://www.smartbear.com/https://www.facebook.com/smartbearhttps://twitter.com/SmartBearhttps://plus.google.com/112549653237106886127/postshttp://smartbear.com/products/qa-tools/application-performance-profiling/free-aqtime-pro-trial?src=aqtime-code-profiling-ebook&srcdet=bottom-CTAhttp://www.smartbear.com/https://plus.google.com/112549653237106886127/postshttps://twitter.com/SmartBearhttps://www.facebook.com/smartbearhttp://www.smartbear.com/

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