recordTimings

Overview

recordTimings is a C++ header-only library that facilitates the recording of timing information during the execution of a program. It allows you to track the time spent on different tasks and operations within your code, enabling you to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize your application.

Features

• Accurate Timing: recordTimings utilizes high-resolution clocks to ensure accurate timing measurements.
• Support for Multi-threading: The library supports multi-threaded applications and can handle timing measurements for each thread separately.
• Support for CPU and GPU: It can record timings for both CPU and GPU operations, providing insights into both types of computation.
• Efficient Record-Keeping: The library maintains a structured record of all recorded timings, including descriptions, time differentials, parent descriptions, and more.
• FLOPS Calculation: In addition to time measurements, recordTimings can calculate Floating-Point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) for specific operations.

Usage

Add the recordTimings/record_timings.hpp header file to your C++ project and include it in your code. You can then make use of the following macros to instrument your code:

RECORD_TIMINGS_INIT();
RECORD_TIMINGS_START(machine, desc_str);
RECORD_TIMINGS_STOP(machine, desc_str);
RECORD_TIMINGS_PARALLEL();
RECORD_TIMINGS_STOP_WITH_FLOPS(machine, desc_str, flops);
RECORD_TIMINGS_PRINT(stream);
RECORD_TIMINGS_DISABLE();

• RECORD_TIMINGS_INIT(): should be called once outside main() function. It initializes the library and creates a root node in the timing tree.

• RECORD_TIMINGS_START(machine, desc_str): should be called at the start of a timed operation. It creates a new node in the timing tree and starts the timer.

• RECORD_TIMINGS_STOP(machine, desc_str): should be called at the end of a timed operation. The desc_str in RECORD_TIMINGS_START and RECORD_TIMINGS_STOP should be identical. It stops the timer and calculates the time differential between the start and stop times.

• RECORD_TIMINGS_PARALLEL(): should be called before the start of a parallel region for initializing the thread-specific timing tree.

• RECORD_TIMINGS_STOP_WITH_FLOPS(machine, desc_str, flops): should be called at the end of a timed operation. The number of floating-point operations (flops) performed during the operations should be provided as the third argument. It is used to calculate the FLOPS for the operation.

• RECORD_TIMINGS_PRINT(stream): should be called at the end of the program to print the timing tree to the provided stream. The default stream is std::cout.

• RECORD_TIMINGS_DISABLE(): should be called at the beginning of the program to disable the library. It is useful for disabling the library without removing the instrumentation code.