Which code profiler?

You need to use a profiler which is compatible with your compiler.

That's to say, don't build it with a different compiler just to do profiling - that's completely pointless as your profile data will be different.

Therefore, when asking this question, it's necessary to state which compiler you're using.

Mark

MSVC++ 6

AMD CodeAnalyst. It free and it for Windows. Works for me fine (using MSVC 6).

Please people. Do yourselves a favour and upgrade to VC++ 8 Express. It's free. Surely you don't want to be using a seven year old compiler that predates the standardisation of the C++ language!

Enigma

Is there a code profiler included in VC2005 express ??
I use it since 2 days, and I must say that it's quite enjoyable. And it would be even more if there was a profiler included ^^

Edit : on VS2003 I use DevPartner profiler.

I do have VC++ 2005 Express also. I just haven't tested CodeAnalyst with it.

CodeAnalyst is the best. And free.

It has several modes, one will analyze a sequence of time and say "x function took y% of time" etc. This is useful in a high level way.

In Pipeline Simulation mode, it will take an executable and run it through a processor simulator and print out a graph that displays each stage of the pipeline as thousands of instructions execute. This is very useful for optimizing a specific piece of code, particularly if you write a lot of assembly.

Some AMD-specific paths like Pipeline Simulation don't work without AMD processor, but sampled and instrumented profiling is possible on Intel, too.

Quote:

Original post by ajas95 CodeAnalyst is the best. And free. It has several modes, one will analyze a sequence of time and say "x function took y% of time" etc. This is useful in a high level way. In Pipeline Simulation mode, it will take an executable and run it through a processor simulator and print out a graph that displays each stage of the pipeline as thousands of instructions execute. This is very useful for optimizing a specific piece of code, particularly if you write a lot of assembly.

Gotta say I downloaded it and I wasnt too impressed with CodeAnalyst, it wouldn't show me which functions were taking the most time besides the leaf ones which are used all over, so I couldnt really figure out which parts of mhy program were slow. Sure my transform function takes a lot of cycles, but whereabouts is it taking these cycles??? Unless I'm missing something with the app..

I would recommend intel VTune. It does not matter where you compile as long as you have the pdb files. It is great. It draws a graph of ticks where you can zoom in and out and see the problem code. It does not just show your tick counts how much a line of code took it also shows it on a larger scale. It is very very easy to use.

Then again, you could code up a profiler, and integrate it into your project. I use the profiler out of Game Programming Gems 1 (also used in the Enginuity series: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article1959.asp

Hope this helps someone.

EDIT:
Also first post as a GDNet+ Member :)

For those using MingW (or gcc on *nix) gprof works well enough. The output is a bit convoluted, but the manual does a decent job of explaining it.

I'm not a huge fan of CodeAnalyst, but it has the useful feature of being free, unlike vTune.

I highly recommend Glowcode. I have used in a production setting and it has been invaluable.

I find DevPartner Studio to be a fantastic tool. Definitely on the costly side (over 2 grand for the most complete version), bit it's got everything you need and the kitchen sink. Not only that, but it works, and it works well.