A software science model of compile time

Author

Shaw, Wade H., Jr. ; Howatt, James W. ; Maness, Robert S. ; Miller, Dennis M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Air Force Inst. of Technol., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, USA

Volume

15

Issue

5

fYear

1989

fDate

5/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

543

Lastpage

549

Abstract

The Halstead theory of software science is used to describe the compilation process and generate a compiler performance index. A nonlinear model of compile time is estimated for four Ada compilers. A fundamental relation between compile time and program modularity is proposed. Issues considered include data collection procedures, the development of a counting strategy, the analysis of the complexity measures used, and the investigation of significant relationships between program characteristics and compile time. The results indicate that the model has a high predictive power and provides interesting insights into compiler performance phenomena. The research suggests that the discrimination rate of a compiler is a valuable performance index and is preferred to average compile-time statistics

Keywords

performance evaluation; program compilers; Ada compilers; Halstead theory of software science; compilation process; compile time; compiler performance; compiler performance index; complexity measures; counting strategy; data collection; discrimination rate; fundamental relation; nonlinear model; performance index; predictive power; program characteristics; program modularity; significant relationships; software science model; Aerospace electronics; Embedded computing; Force control; Marine vehicles; Military computing; Performance analysis; Predictive models; Software performance; Statistics; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0098-5589

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/32.24703

Filename

24703