Re: [boost] Re: Boost Profiler Proposal

From: Rob Stewart (stewart_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-02-08 17:36:00

From: christopher diggins <cdiggins_at_[hidden]>
> 
> Okay, so the general consensus has been quite consistent:
> - ability to turn off globally
> - pause and resume
> - As unintrusive as possible (no requirement of code reporting)
       ^^^^^^^^^^^
(When you get to the docs, be sure to write that as
"nonintrusive.")

> - hierarchical reporting (optional)
> 
> I think perhaps the best approach then would be a macro library. I propose 

That is the only way to turn it off entirely. :-(

> the following macros:
> 
> BOOST_PROFILING_OFF // turns off the macros
> 
> BOOST_PROFILE_START(profiler_type, name)
> BOOST_PROFILE_STOP(name)
> BOOST_PROFILE_PAUSE(name)
> BOOST_PROFILE_RESUME(name)
> BOOST_PROFILE_EXPR(expression)
> BOOST_PROFILE_REPORT(name)
> BOOST_PROFILE_ALL(name)

A better scheme would be to provide a null profiler class that
BOOST_PROFILE_START instantiates when BOOST_PROFILE_OFF is
defined.  Then, there can be empty, inline member functions so
that the following code compiles away to nothing in optimized
builds:

void f()
{
   BOOST_PROFILER(type) prof;
   // code to profile
   prof.pause();
   // code to ignore
   prof.continue();
   // more code to profile
}

> I then will follow Gennadiy's suggestion of multiple policies:
> 
> basic_profiler<reporting_policy, logging_policy, collecting_policy, 
> timer_policy>

In keeping with the rest, should the latter be "timing_policy?"

-- 
Rob Stewart                           stewart_at_[hidden]
Software Engineer                     http://www.sig.com
Susquehanna International Group, LLP  using std::disclaimer;