Experimental Evaluation of Software and Systems in Computer Science

An ACM/NBS Workshop on Computer Performance Evaluation (CPE) was held in San Diego, Calif. in March 1973. The papers, workshop discussions, conclusions and recommendations presented in this volume address specific problems in making computer performance evaluation a commonplace and productive practice.

While several of the conclusions indicate that improvements are needed in performance analysis tools, another suggests that improved application of CPE could be achieved by better documentation of analysis field to develop its full potential. Participants noted that the common emphasis on data collection or modeling, to the exclusion of considering objectives, often seriously degrades the value of performance analysis.