Module `CProfile`

This program is a small time and allocation profiler for Objective Caml

To use it, link it with the program you want to profile.

To trace a function "f" you first need to get a key for it by using :

let fkey = declare_profile "f";;

(the string is used to print the profile information). Warning: this function does a side effect. Choose the ident you want instead "fkey".

Then if the function has ONE argument add the following just after the definition of "f" or just after the declare_profile if this one follows the definition of f.

let f = profile1 fkey f;;

If f has two arguments do the same with profile2, idem with 3, ... For more arguments than provided in this module, make a new copy of function profile and adapt for the needed arity.

If you want to profile two mutually recursive functions, you had better to rename them :

let fkey = declare_profile "f";; let gkey = declare_profile "g";; let f' = .... f' ... g' and g' = .... f' .... g' ;;

let f = profile fkey f';; let g = profile gkey g';;

Before the program quits, you should call "print_profile ();;". It produces a result of the following kind:

Function name Own time Total time Own alloc Tot. alloc Calls f 0.28 0.47 116 116 5 4 h 0.19 0.19 0 0 4 0 g 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0 others 0.00 0.47 392 508 9 Est. overhead/total 0.00 0.47 2752 3260

The first column is the name of the function.
The third column give the time (utime + stime) spent inside the function.
The second column give the time spend inside the function minus the time spend in other profiled functions called by it
The 4th and 5th columns give the same for allocated words
The 6th and 7th columns give the number of calls to the function and the number of calls to profiled functions inside the scope of the current function

Remarks:

If a function has a polymorphic type, you need to supply it with at least one argument as in "let f a = profile1 fkey f a;;" (instead of "let f = profile1 fkey f;;") in order to get generalization of the type.
Each line of the form "let f a = profile1 fkey f a;;" in your code counts for 5 words and each line of the form "let f = profile1 fkey f;;" counts for 6 words (a word is 4 or 8 bytes according to the architecture); this is counted for "others".
Time fields for functions doing a little job is usually non pertinent.

type profile_key

val set_recording : string -> unit
val print_profile : unit -> unit
val reset_profile : unit -> unit
val init_profile : unit -> unit
val declare_profile : string -> profile_key
val profile1 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b) -> 'a -> 'b
val profile2 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c
val profile3 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd
val profile4 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e
val profile5 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f
val profile6 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f -> 'g) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f -> 'g
val profile7 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f -> 'g -> 'h) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f -> 'g -> 'h
val profile8 : profile_key -> ('a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f -> 'g -> 'h -> 'i) -> 'a -> 'b -> 'c -> 'd -> 'e -> 'f -> 'g -> 'h -> 'i

val print_logical_stats : 'a -> unit: Print logical size (in words) and depth of its argument This function does not disturb the heap

val print_stats : 'a -> unit: Print physical size, logical size (in words) and depth of its argument This function allocates itself a lot (the same order of magnitude as the physical size of its argument)