Computer performance is characterised by the amount of useful work accomplished by a computer system compared to the time and resources used. Depending on the context, good computer performance may involve one or more of the following:
- Short response time for a given piece of work
- High throughput (rate of processing work)
- Low utilization of computing resource(s)
- High availability of the computing system or application
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Performance metrics
Computer performance metrics include availability, response time, capacity, latency, completion time, service time, bandwidth, throughput, relative efficiency, scalability, and speed up.
Aspect of software quality
Computer software performance, particularly software application response time, is an aspect of software quality that is important in human–computer interactions.
Technical and non-technical definitions
The performance of any computer system can be evaluated in measurable, technical terms, using one or more of the metrics listed above. This way the performance can be
- compared relative to other systems or the same system before/after changes
- defined in absolute terms, e.g. for fulfilling a contractual obligation
Whilst the above definition relates to a scientific, technical approach, the following definition given by Arnold Allen would be useful for a non-technical audience:
The word performance in computer performance means the same thing that performance means in other contexts, that is, it means "How well is the computer doing the work it is supposed to do?"[1]
See also
- Benchmark (computing)
- Computer architecture
- Network performance
- Performance analysis
- Performance engineering
- Performance management
- Performance testing
- Performance tuning
References
- ^ Computer Performance Analysis with Mathematica by Arnold O. Allen, Academic Press, 1994. $1.1 Introduction, pg 1.
