Performance of Storage Management in an Implementation of SNOBOL4

Results of measuring the performance of the storage management subsystem in an implementation of SNOBOL4 are described. By instrumenting the storage management system, data concerning the size, lifetime, and use of storage blocks were collected. These data, like those obtained from conventional time measurement techniques, were used to locate program inefficiencies. In addition, these measurements uncovered some deficiencies in the storage management system, and provided the basis upon which to judge the heuristics used in the garbage collector.