booker@network.ucsd.edu (Booker bense) (10/20/90)
I ran the following timing tests, first I did a query-replace in emacs on the YMP( about 20 substitutions ) then used the ange-ftp package to remotely edit the file doing the inverse of the query-replace. Y1 is the YMP, GRUMPY is the workstation (sparc). dummy.f has about 100 lines Y1[129]: time emacs dummy.f 0.7954u 0.5854s 1:33 1% GRUMPY(85):time emacs /benseb@y1:dummy.f 2.5u 2.3s 2:50 2% time used by the ftp daemon on the YMP benseb 61246 297 - null 0:00 [ ftpd ] genden.f has about 600 lines Y1[135]:time emacs genden.f 1.0475u 0.5304s 0:48 3% GRUMPY(87): time emacs /benseb@y1:genden.f 3.6u 2.1s 1:44 5% time used by the ftp daemon on the YMP benseb 65911 297 11:51:46 null 0:00 [ ftpd ] In fact I had to get/save a 2500 line file before I used enough time that ps would show a 1 second use by the ftpd. While these statistics will vary greatly depending on how many hops the ftp has to make, I think they show a reasonable savings in YMP cpu time. Average time to get/save a file using ange-ftp is about 3-5 seconds. The difference in user time between the YMP and the workstation is largely due to the fact that I am using the X-windows version of emacs and it takes a significant amount of time to load emacs and open a new window, also I have to type in my password for the ftp. What I like most about using the remote editor is that it allows to keep the file in the editor without using any YMP time. Emacs, in particular, can gobble a significant amount of time if you are doing complex operations. For an even more remote user, (my keypress has to go about 3 floors) I think the improved interactivity of a distributed editor would be well worth the extra time spent in startup. IMHO, 'AUTOMATED' distributed editing, even for small files is a both user and cpu time efficent, particularly on a system as heavily loaded as SDSC's. I would be very interested in seeing similar timings for an NFS'ed file system on a YMP. In this case your editor doesn't need to get the file but the compiler does. i.e. 'time cf77 test.f' on a NFS'ed and a non-NFS'ed file. -Booker C. Bense /* benseb@grumpy.sdsc.edu */