Instrumentation (computer programming): Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Modification of software to allow for analysis}}

{{more footnotes|date=December 2013}}

In [[computer programming]], '''instrumentation''' is the act of modifying software so that [[analysis]] can be performed on it.<ref>A. Sabetta and H. Koziolek, “Measuring Performance Metrics: Techniques and Tools,” in Dependability metrics. Springer, 2008, pp. 226–232.</ref>

Generally, instrumentation either modifies [[source code]] or [[binary code]]. Execution environments like the JVM provide separate interfaces to add instrumentation to program executions, such as the [[Java_Virtual_Machine_Tools_Interface|JVMTI]], which enables instrumentation during program start.

Instrumentation enables [[profiling (computer programming)|profiling]]: <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/commenting-testing-and-instrumenting-cod/229300224|title=Commenting, Testing, and Instrumenting Code|work=Dr. Dobb's |date=January 3, 2011|accessdate=January 29, 2014}}</ref>

measuring dynamic behavior during a test run. This is useful for properties of a program that cannot be [[static program analysis|analyzed statically]] with sufficient precision, such as [[software performance|performance]] and [[alias analysis]].

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Instrumentation is limited by execution coverage. If the program never reaches a particular point of execution, then instrumentation at that point collects no data. For instance, if a word processor application is instrumented, but the user never activates the print feature, then the instrumentation can say nothing about the routines which are used exclusively by the printing feature.

Instrumentation increases the execution time of a program. In some contexts, this increase might be dramatic and hence limit the application of instrumentation to debugging contexts. The instrumentation overhead differs depending on the used instrumentation technology.<ref>Reichelt, D. G., Bulej, L., Jung, R., & van Hoorn, A. (2024, May). Overhead Comparison of Instrumentation Frameworks. In Companion of the 15th ACM/SPEC International Conference on Performance Engineering (pp. 249-256).</ref>

Some types of instrumentation may cause a dramatic increase in execution time. This can limit the application of instrumentation to debugging contexts.

==See also==