wang@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Eric Wang) (01/20/90)
Three quick questions:
a) What's a whetstone?
b) What's a dhrystone?
c) Why are they so named?
Been in the dark & wondering for a long time...
Eric Wang
wang@cs.uiuc.educs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) (01/22/90)
In article <1990Jan19.225828.24382@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> wang@cs.uiuc.edu (Eric Wang) writes:
$ a) What's a whetstone?
$ b) What's a dhrystone?
$ c) Why are they so named?
Well, there are probably several different stories on these names, but
here's what I've heard:
What's a whetstone in non-computer terms? It's something you use to
sharpen your tools, right? Well, the whetstone benchmark was originally
created in order to help compiler writer sharpen their "tools" - the
compilers they were designing. It is supposed to allow you to figure
out how good a job you're doing of producing a compiler that spits out
efficient code.
As for dhrystones, well, you know what computer people have in the way of
a sense of humour - a very warped one. Someone noticed that you could
replace the w, e and t at the start of "whetstone" with d, r and y ... so
they did. There are other ?h*stone benchmarks, mostly just names with
comical definitions, but some (such as the dhampstone) do actually
exist and perform useful functions.
--
Stephen M. Dunn cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca
<std_disclaimer.h> = "\nI'm only an undergraduate!!!\n";
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"I want to look at life - In the available light" - Neil PeartRalf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU (01/22/90)
In article <25BAAA80.12762@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca>, cs4g6ag@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (Stephen M. Dunn) wrote: }they did. There are other ?h*stone benchmarks, mostly just names with }comical definitions, but some (such as the dhampstone) do actually }exist and perform useful functions. Two more: the rhealstone (from Dr. Dobbs Journal) for measuring real-time systems, and the nhfsstone which presumably measures NFS performance. -- UUCP: {ucbvax,harvard}!cs.cmu.edu!ralf -=- 412-268-3053 (school) -=- FAX: ask ARPA: ralf@cs.cmu.edu BIT: ralf%cs.cmu.edu@CMUCCVMA FIDO: Ralf Brown 1:129/46 "How to Prove It" by Dana Angluin Disclaimer? I claimed something? 14. proof by importance: A large body of useful consequences all follow from the proposition in question.