The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis: Techniques for Experimental Design, Measurement, Simulation, and Modeling

by Raj Jain

The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis "At last, a welcome and needed text for computer professionals who require practical, ready-to-apply techniques for performance analysis. Highly recommended!" -Dr. Leonard Kleinrock University of California, Los Angeles "An entirely refreshing text which has just the right mixture of theory and real world practice. The book is ideal for both classroom instruction and self-study." -Dr. Raymond L. Pickholtz President, IEEE Communications Society "An extraordinarily comprehensive treatment of both theoretical and practical issues." -Dr. Jeffrey P. Buzen Internationally recognized performance analysis expert ". it is the most thorough book available to date" -Dr. Erol Gelenbe Université René Descartes, Paris ". an extraordinary book.. A worthy addition to the bookshelf of any practicing computer or communications engineer" -Dr. Vinton G. Cer??? Chairman, ACM SIGCOMM "This is an unusual object, a textbook that one wants to sit down and peruse. The prose is clear and fluent, but more important, it is witty." -Allison Mankin The Mitre Washington Networking Center Newsletter

Genres: Computer Science, Technology, Technical, Reference, Nonfiction, Design, Programming

720 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 1991

Reviews

[Olumuyiwa Ibidunmoye]

I was introduced to this book as literature for a final year course in Performance Evaluation in my bachelors. Years after, I found myself coming back to consult the book. I was excited in 2015 when I read the 2nd edition was due to be published before words had it that the plan was discontinued. I would recommend this book to anyone in systems fields.

[Lena]

This book is amazing and I really wish the author would release a second edition. Despite that, it holds up very well for being 30 years old.

While the technical parts of the book were sound and helpful (and I especially liked the useful boxes in the queueing theory section at the end), my favorite thing about the book was that it gave really useful, practical life advice. Things like that decision makers won't care how cool and complicated your model is, they'll just want the numbers to make decisions with. Or that while most people realize you should validate models and simulations with real measurements if possible, it's actually also important to validate real measurements because otherwise you might not be measuring what you think you are. Or an entire table of ways to shoot down other people's models / papers, that is pretty universally applicable (and hilarious).

I got a group together to read this at work, and it was great seeing other people excited about the book as well, although perhaps some of them are tired of hearing me say "Well as Raj Jain said in the book...". But I make no apologies.

[John Hoag]

Past text I had used in Network Theory grad class at OU, still the best guide to the methods of performance analysis. Multiply add rates/capacities by 100, and it still works. When it's my turn to teach our Research Methods class, this will be my choice.

[James]

The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis* is a detailed and very informative book. I liked how it explains performance measurement, statistics, simulation, and system analysis in a practical way. Some sections are quite technical and require patience, but the ideas are valuable and still relevant today.

It is not the easiest book to read casually, but for anyone interested in computer systems and performance, it is a worthwhile reference.

[Michael Scott]

The best book about experimental computer science, with a strong focus on the performance of computer systems. I learned much that served me well during my Ph.D. in large-scale computer systems (grids, clouds, Peer-to-Peer systems).

[Ankit]

builds up solid theoritical foundation for any performance analysis you may want to do. the first four chapters themselves are worth the price of the book.

[Emmi]

It is a good book but several explanations are missed, for example not much explanation in Networks or Queuing theory.

[Zach]

Somewhat dated but still an excellent introduction to simulation, experiment design, and queuing theory. Thankfully we don't have to build our own random number generators anymore.

[Greg]

The best book about computer systems that you've never heard of.

[Furkaan Khan]

Excited