Chapter 2
Measuring CPUs
In this chapter and the following ones, you will learn how to measure each of the four fundamental hardware resources on x86 processors running Linux and using the gcc compiler, as described in Appendix A. The ideas here carry over to other processors and other software environments, but the numbers will vary somewhat.
Rather than encouraging you to just memorize Table 1.1 from Chapter 1, we will actively measure most of those values on computers you use. Along the way, you will learn the basics of designing measurements and also learn something about the subtleties of modern computers. When we are done, you will have a stronger underpinning for estimating how much time various pieces of code should take. These chapters ...
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