6.17.10   Profiler

The built-in profiler analyzes the runtime behavior of HDevelop programs. You can use the profiling data to evaluate the overall program execution, to optimize its performance, and to find bottlenecks.

The profiler measures the processing times in one of two modes:

• In the operator time mode, the profiler counts operator and procedure calls and measures the processing times of operator calls.

  The operator time is the appropriate measure if you plan to export your HDevelop program to a programming language.

• In the execution time mode, the profiler measures the operator time and additionally the overhead of each operator call inside HDevelop.

  The execution time is the appropriate measure if you run the program inside HDevelop or HDevEngine.

Keep the following in mind when profiling your code:

• Disable GUI updates by calling the convenience procedure dev_update_off() at the beginning of your program.
• Run the code to be profiled a couple of times and use the average profiling data to get more accurate results.
• Reduce the number of concurrent (background) processes.
• Avoid stop and wait_seconds instructions, or override these two operators; see Override Operator Behavior.

To activate the profiler, click Execute ▹ Activate Profiler.
When the profiler is activated, each program execution collects profiling data.

To reset the profiler data, click Execute ▹ Reset Profiler,

To deactivate the profiler, click Execute ▹ Deactivate Profiler.

The profiling results are displayed in the program window. In addition, a summarized view of the runtime statistics is available.

• 6.17.10.1   Profiler Display
• 6.17.10.2   Runtime Statistics
• 6.17.10.3   Selective Profiler Display