NAME

       bench_intro - bench introduction

DESCRIPTION

       The  bench  (short  for  benchmark tools), is a set of related, yet different, entities which are working
       together for the easy creation and execution of performance test suites, also known as benchmarks.  These
       are

       [1]    A  tcl  based  language  for  the  declaration  of test cases. A test case is represented by a tcl
              command declaring the various parts needed to execute it, like setup,  cleanup,  the  commands  to
              test, etc.

       [2]    A package providing the ability to execute test cases written in that language.

       Which  of  the  more  detailed documents are relevant to the reader of this introduction depends on their
       role in the benchmarking process.

       [1]    A writer of benchmarks has to understand the bench language itself. A  beginner  to  bench  should
              read  the  more  informally  written  bench  language introduction first. Having digested this the
              formal bench language specification should become understandable. A writer experienced with  bench
              may only need this last document from time to time, to refresh her memory.

       [2]    A user of benchmark suites written in the bench language has to know which tools are available for
              use.   At  the  bottom  level  sits  the package bench, providing the basic facilities to read and
              execute files containing benchmarks written in the bench language,  and  to  manipulate  benchmark
              results.

HISTORICAL NOTES

       This  module  and package have been derived from Jeff Hobbs' tclbench application for the benchmarking of
       the Tcl core and its ancestor "runbench.tcl".

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and  other  problems.   Please
       report  such in the category bench of the Tcllib Trackers [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].  Please
       also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments  can  be  made  by
       going  to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most button
       in the secondary navigation bar.

SEE ALSO

       bench, bench_lang_faq, bench_lang_intro, bench_lang_spec

KEYWORDS

       bench language, benchmark, performance, testing

CATEGORY

       Benchmark tools

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 2007 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>

tcllib                                                 1.0                                     bench_intro(3tcl)