Trace-based simulation

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In computer science, trace-based simulation refers to system simulation performed by looking at traces of program execution or system component access with the purpose of performance prediction. [1]

Computer science study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation

Computer science is the study of processes that interact with data and that can be represented as data in the form of programs. It enables the use of algorithms to manipulate, store, and communicate digital information. A computer scientist studies the theory of computation and the practice of designing software systems.

Computer simulation simulation, run on a single computer, or a network of computers, to reproduce behavior of a system; modeling a real physical system in a computer

Computer simulation is the reproduction of the behavior of a system using a computer to simulate the outcomes of a mathematical model associated with said system. Since they allow to check the reliability of chosen mathematical models, computer simulations have become a useful tool for the mathematical modeling of many natural systems in physics, astrophysics, climatology, chemistry, biology and manufacturing, human systems in economics, psychology, social science, health care and engineering. Simulation of a system is represented as the running of the system's model. It can be used to explore and gain new insights into new technology and to estimate the performance of systems too complex for analytical solutions.

In computer science, performance prediction means to estimate the execution time or other performance factors of a program on a given computer. It is being widely used for computer architects to evaluate new computer designs, for compiler writers to explore new optimizations, and also for advanced developers to tune their programs.

Trace-based simulation may be used in a variety of applications, from the analysis of solid state disks to the message passing performance on very large computer clusters. [1] [2]

In computer science, message passing is a technique for invoking behavior on a computer. The invoking program sends a message to a process and relies on the process and the supporting infrastructure to select and invoke the actual code to run. Message passing differs from conventional programming where a process, subroutine, or function is directly invoked by name. Message passing is key to some models of concurrency and object-oriented programming.

Computer cluster group of computers

A computer cluster is a set of loosely or tightly connected computers that work together so that, in many respects, they can be viewed as a single system. Unlike grid computers, computer clusters have each node set to perform the same task, controlled and scheduled by software.

Traced-based simulators usually have two components: one that executes actions and stores the results (i.e. traces) and another which reads the log files of traces and interpolates them to new (and often more complex) scenarios. [2]

For instance, in the case of large computer cluster design, the execution takes place on a small number of nodes, and traces are left in log files. The simulator reads those log files and simulates performance on a much larger number of nodes, thus providing a view of the performance of very large applications, based on the execution traces on a much smaller number of nodes. [2] [3]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Software Technologies for Embedded and Ubiquitous Systems edited by Sunggu Lee and Priya Narasimhan 2009 ISBN   3642102646 page 28
  2. 1 2 3 Languages and Compilers for Parallel Computing edited by Keith Cooper, John Mellor-Crummey and Vivek Sarkar 2011 ISBN   3642195946 pages 202-203
  3. ↑ Petascale Computing: Algorithms and Applications by David A. Bader 2007 ISBN   1584889098 pages 435-435
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