Improve performance of -profile by factor of 10

[Walter Bright]

On 3/26/2013 6:30 PM, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
> On Tuesday, March 26, 2013 17:17:51 Walter Bright wrote:
>> I've done a lot of very successful optimization jobs using -profile. Sure,
>> it isn't terribly accurate, but it's plenty accurate enough where it
>> matters.
>
> I'd say that for the most part, our approach to stuff like -profile or unit
> testing is to provide a simple-to-use feature that solves the problem 90% of
> the time while leaving more powerful (and therefore more complicated) stuff to
> 3rd party solutions. That way, we have a tool that everyone can use effectively
> even if it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles, and those that really
> care about the bells and whistles can do what they normally would have done
> anyway if we didn't provide a solution (i.e. use or write a 3rd party
> solution).

Yup. My experience with such things, including profiling, coverage testing, unit 
testing, documentation, lambdas, etc., is that if it ain't easy, it just ain't 
happening.

I remember in the 80's getting a profiler, and with it came a manual that was an 
inch thick. It never got used.