 






          Software
          Product
          Description

          ________________________________________________________________

          PRODUCT NAME:  VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer,        SPD
          26.76.06                 Version 3.0

          DESCRIPTION

          The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer is a tool to help
          VMS users analyze the execution behavior of their applications
          programs. The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer has two
          functions. First, it can pinpoint execution bottlenecks and
          other performance problems in applications programs. Second,
          it provides test coverage analysis by measuring what parts of a
          user program are executed or not executed by a given set of test
          data.

          The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer supports the DECwin-
          dows software environment and provides either a DECwindows or a
          command line user interface.

          The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer is included in the
          VAXset Software Engineering Tools Package. This package provides
          simplified ordering and maintenance of various tools. Refer to
          the VAXset Software Engineering Tools Package Software Product
          Description (SPD 27.07.xx) for more information on VAXset.

          The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer is an aid in tuning
          the performance and testing of applications programs. It is not
          a tool for the analysis of operating system performance or for
          use as an aid in hardware resource planning.

          The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer consists of two parts:
          the Collector which gathers performance or test coverage data on
          the running user program and the Analyzer which later processes
          and displays the collected data. The Collector gathers the
          performance data and writes that information to a data file.
          Once the data has been collected into a data file, the Analyzer

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          VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer,             SPD 26.76.06



          can be run using that data file as input. The Analyzer is a
          separate program which reads the data file produced by the
          Collector and presents the results as performance histograms
          or other displays.

          Both the Collector and the Analyzer are fully symbolic and use
          the Debug Symbol Table (DST) information in the user program
          to access the symbolic names of program locations. Applications
          written in any of the VMS languages which produce DST infor-
          mation can be analyzed using the VAX Performance and Coverage
          Analyzer. For a list of these languages, refer to the OPTIONAL
          SOFTWARE section of this SPD.

          The VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer can gather and report
          the following types of performance data:

          o  Ada multi-tasking data - Various kinds of multi-tasking data
             can be gathered to determine which tasks consume the most
             resources.

          o  PC sampling data - The PC (Program Counter) of the user pro-
             gram can be sampled to determine what parts of the user pro-
             gram take the most wall-clock time during program execution.

          o  CPU sampling data - The PC of the user program can be sampled
             to determine what parts of the user program take the most CPU
             time during program execution.

          o  Execution counts - The Collector allows execution counters
             to be set on specified individual program locations or on
             classes of locations such as the beginning of every routine
             or on every line of a given routine.

          o  Test coverage - The Collector can determine which lines or
             code paths of a program are executed for a specific set of
             test data and which are not.



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          o  Event markers - When collecting performance data, the user
             may wish to mark significant events in the execution of the
             program to permit later filtering of the data. For exam-
             ple, an event may be entering a routine in the application
             program.

          o  Page fault data - Information can be collected each time a
             page fault occurs.

          o  System service counts - The Collector can determine the
             number of times a user program calls each system service
             for analysis of event-driven or real-time applications.

          o  Input/Output statistics - Data on a program's input and
             output characteristics can be collected.

          o  Vector PC sampling data - Can determine the
             scalar/vector parallelism throughout the entire application
             program using the wall-clock time during program execution.

          o  Vector CPU sampling data - Can determine the scalar/vector
             parallelism throughout the entire application program using
             the process-clock time during program execution.

          o  Vector Execution counts - Allows vector instruction counting
             to be set in specified individual program locations or for
             classes of locations, such as the beginning of every routine
             or for every line of a given routine.

          The following information describes how the Collector and Ana-
          lyzer are used:

          At Compile-Time

          To enable performance analysis of application programs, the
          /DEBUG switch must be specified in the compiler command line.
          This switch specifies that the compiler should generate DST
          records and place that information in the object file created by
          the compiler.

          At Link-Time

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          When linking the application which will be run under control
          of the Collector phase of the VAX Performance and Coverage
          Analyzer, /DEBUG=SYS$LIBRARY:PCA$OBJ.OBJ must be specified as a
          qualifier to the LINK command.

          At Run-Time

          The Collector is invoked when the user program is run. The user
          may specify the data collection options and then specify GO to
          run the program. The Collector gathers the requested performance
          and coverage data as the program runs to completion.

          To Analyze The Data

          The Analyzer is an image which must be invoked independent of
          the Collector. The Analyzer uses the data file which the Col-
          lector has gathered to produce histograms and tabular displays
          of the data. The Analyzer can be used interactively to view the
          same performance data in a variety of ways to quickly focus on
          specific performance problems.

          Program sources can be shown with the performance data in many
          displays. Windowing capabilities allow multiple displays to be
          viewed at the same time on some types of terminals. In addition,
          data from multiple collections can be merged and analyzed at the
          same time.

          Certain features of VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer are
          not available when using language preprocessors such as those
          supplied for VAX Rdb/VMS and VAX DBMS. Please consult your local
          Digital representative for additional information.

          HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

          VAX, MicroVAX, VAXstation or VAXserver configuration as speci-
          fied in the System Support Addendum (SSA 26.76.06-x).

          SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

          For systems using terminals: (No DECwindows interface)

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          VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer,             SPD 26.76.06



          o  VMS Operating System

          Note: VMS DECwindows Compute Server component must be installed
          to use the VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer.

          For workstations running VWS:

          o  VMS Operating System

          o  VMS Workstation Software

          For workstations running DECwindows:

          o  VMS Operating System (and necessary components of VMS DECwin-
             dows)

          Refer to the System Support Addendum (SSA 26.76.06-x) for avail-
          ability and required versions of prerequisite software and for
          information regarding components of VMS DECwindows.

          ORDERING INFORMATION

          Software Licenses: QL-119A*-**
          Software Media: QA-119A*-**
          Software Documentation: QA-119AA-GZ
          Software Product Services: QT-119A*-**

          *  Denotes variant fields. For additional information on avail-
             able licenses, services and media, refer to the appropriate
             price book.

          LICENSE MANAGEMENT FACILITY SUPPORT

          This layered product supports the VMS License Management Facil-
          ity.

          License units for this product are allocated on a CPU-capacity
          basis.

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          VAX Performance and Coverage Analyzer,             SPD 26.76.06



          For more information on the License Management Facility, refer
          to the VMS Operating System Software Product Description (SPD
          25.01.xx) or the License Management Facility manual of the VMS
          Operating System documentation set.

          SOFTWARE LICENSING

          This software is furnished under the licensing provisions of
          Digital Equipment Corporation's Standard Terms and Conditions.

          For more information about Digital's licensing terms and poli-
          cies, contact your local Digital office.

          SOFTWARE PRODUCT SERVICES

          A variety of service options are available from Digital. For
          more information, contact your local Digital office.

          SOFTWARE WARRANTY

          Warranty for this software product is provided by Digital with
          the purchase of a license for the product as defined in the
          Software Warranty Addendum of this SPD.

          [TM]  The DIGITAL Logo, VMS, VAX, MicroVAX, VAXstation,
                VAXserver, DECwindows and VAXset are trademarks of Digital
                EquipmentCorporation.












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