Performance Solutions: A Practical Guide to Creating Responsive, Scalable Software (Paperback)

~ (Author), Lloyd G. Williams (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Techniques presented are collectively known as software performance engineering (SPE). Primarily intended for experienced software developers who have used object-oriented techniques on one or more development projects.

From the Publisher

Software Performance is an important area of concern for practitioners. Even so, very few books have been published about it, and these books have been so mathematical in their presentations that few readers have been able understand or apply them. During the pre-publication review process, it became very apparent that Connie Smith and Lloyd Williams were writing a Software Performance book that would be accessible to a much wider audience, and that they were doing so without abandoning rigor or integrity. They were writing a book that practitioners could use to their immediate and practical advantage. Upon completion of their work, we were delighted to have our sense of the book confirmed by Paul Clements in his foreword to the book:

"The result is a book that utterly demystifies the job (no longer an art) of performance engineering. Monsters, begone! Wizards, away! It leaves you feeling that you could really do this on your own."

We take great pride in publishing this book, and truly believe that it will be a lasting contribution to the literature of the software engineering field.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; Revised 2003 edition (September 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201722291
• ISBN-13: 978-0201722291
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #544,877 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for OO architects, September 30, 2001

By	Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This book is one-of-a-kind in that it addresses head on the thorny problems associated with object-oriented performance and scalability. The book is divided into seven parts, which include 16 chapters and two appendices.

Part I introduces software performance and the authors' software performance engineering (SPE) methodology. Although the book continues to drill down deeper into SPE and associated factors in subsequent chapters, this part of the book is my favorite. What makes it my favorite is the context in which the authors cast performance as a function of resource requirements (workload) and configuration (capacity). Although this is not a new concept, the ensuing discussion leading to SPE modeling strategies and models and the 9-step SPE process exposes the challenges and provides a sense that OO performance can be managed through careful systems analysis, modeling and design early in the life cycle. I also like the way SPE is aligned to the "Unified Software Process", which is the RUP thinly disguised. The chapter that discusses this has some realm gems, including performance patterns and anti-patterns. In addition, the SPE is also aligned to UML, with an excellent discussion on extending the UML and some example scenarios that show how to specify time, concurrency and other performance characteristics.

The SPE models given in Part II cover the full spectrum of system types, including distributed and web-based systems. The material is highly technical and requires close attention. It is also clearly written and will provide the design team (not to mention the post-implementation support team) with analytical techniques and an effective analysis approach to performance management. The highlights of this part of the book were the way middleware overhead is taken into account, scenarios and modeling hints.

Data collection is the topic of Part III and is covered in detail. The chapters I most liked in this part included resource estimation techniques and software measurement and instrumentation. Part IV will be the focal point for designers and architects in that it addresses performance solutions. Chapter topics include: performance-oriented design, performance patterns and performance anti-patterns(excellent material!) and implementation solutions. The latter covers performance tuning, as well as language-dependent and -independent solutions for OO software. The two languages discussed are c++ and java.

Part V is devoted to applications and provides a thorough discussion of web and realtime embedded system performance issues. The format of the two chapters in this part include: performance issues, SPE models, environments and constraints. Realtime systems are given a more in-depth treatment because of the special nature of these systems. I liked the case study that used a telephone switching system for realtime systems because I have professional interests in that area.

The actual steps for implementing SPE is the subject of Part VI, which covers the process, associated life cycle activities, post-deployment performance management and how to integrate SPE into your organization's software process. Part VII's two appendices are valuable. Appendix A covers UML notation and Appendix B covers SPE modeling notations. Both are useful as quick reference guides.

This is a comprehensive book that, while focused on a narrow topic, covers all issues and factors in minute detail. The book complements two other outstanding works, Software Reliability Engineered Testing by John D. Musa, and Testing Object-Oriented Systems by Robert V. Binder. Although the latter books are more focused on testing, the material dovetails nicely with the SPE approach given in this book.