
Workload-Driven Evaluation
The field of computer architecture is becoming increasingly quantitative. Design fea-
tures are adopted only after detailed evaluations of trade-offs have been made. Once
systems are built, they are evaluated and compared both by architects to understand
the trade-offs and by users to make procurement decisions. In uniprocessor design, a
rich base of existing machines and widely used applications supports the process of
identifying and evaluating trade-offs; it is one of careful extrapolation from known
quantities. Designers isolate performance characteristics of the machines by using
microbenchmarks—small program