Computers as Components, 2nd Edition

250 CHAPTER 5 Program Design and Analysis

We can measure program performance in several ways:

■ Some microprocessor manufacturers supply simulators for their CPUs: The

simulator runs on a workstation or PC, takes as input an executable for the

microprocessor along with input data,and simulates the execution of that pro-

gram. Some of these simulators go beyond functional simulation to measure

the execution time of the program. Simulation is clearly slower than executing

the program on the actual microprocessor, but it also provides much greater

visibility during execution. Be careful—some microprocessor performance

simulators are not 100% accurate,