1[comment {-*- tcl -*- doctools manpage}] 2[manpage_begin bench_intro n 1.0] 3[copyright {2007 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>}] 4[moddesc {Benchmarking/Performance tools}] 5[titledesc {bench introduction}] 6[category {Benchmark tools}] 7[description] 8[para] 9 10The [term bench] (short for [emph {benchmark tools}]), is a set of 11related, yet different, entities which are working together for the 12easy creation and execution of performance test suites, also known as 13benchmarks. These are 14 15[list_begin enumerated] 16[enum] 17 18A tcl based language for the declaration of test cases. A test case is 19represented by a tcl command declaring the various parts needed to 20execute it, like setup, cleanup, the commands to test, etc. 21 22[enum] 23 24A package providing the ability to execute test cases written in that 25language. 26 27[comment { 28[enum] 29In the future we will also provide an application which wraps around the package. 30}] 31[list_end] 32 33[para] 34 35Which of the more detailed documents are relevant to the reader of 36this introduction depends on their role in the benchmarking process. 37 38[para] 39 40[list_begin enumerated] 41[enum] 42 43A [term writer] of benchmarks has to understand the bench language 44itself. A beginner to bench should read the more informally written 45[term {bench language introduction}] first. Having digested this the 46formal [term {bench language specification}] should become 47understandable. A writer experienced with bench may only need this 48last document from time to time, to refresh her memory. 49 50[comment { 51[para] 52 53While a benchmark is written the [syscmd bench] application can be 54used to validate it, and after completion it also performs the 55execution of the whole benchmark suite. 56}] 57 58[enum] 59A [term user] of benchmark suites written in the [term bench] language 60has to know which tools are available for use. 61 62[comment { 63[para] 64 65The main tool is the aforementioned [syscmd bench] application 66provided by Tcllib. 67}] 68 69At the bottom level sits the package [package bench], providing the 70basic facilities to read and execute files containing benchmarks 71written in the bench language, and to manipulate benchmark results. 72 73[list_end] 74 75 76[section {HISTORICAL NOTES}] 77 78This module and package have been derived from Jeff Hobbs' 79[syscmd tclbench] application for the benchmarking of the Tcl core and 80its ancestor [file runbench.tcl]. 81 82 83[section {BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK}] 84 85This document, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems. 86 87Please report such in the category [emph bench] of the 88[uri {http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883} {Tcllib SF Trackers}]. 89 90Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have. 91 92[see_also bench_lang_intro] 93[see_also bench_lang_spec] 94[see_also bench_lang_faq] 95[see_also bench] 96[keywords testing performance benchmark {bench language}] 97[manpage_end] 98