Writing Efficient Programs: Performance Issues in
an Undergraduate CS Curriculum
Saumya Debray
Department of Computer Science
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.
Abstract
Performance is an essential aspect of many software systems,
and it is important for programmers to understand performance issues.
However, most undergraduate curricula do not explicitly cover performance
issues---performance monitoring and profiling tools, performance improvement
techniques, and case studies---in their curricula. This paper describes how
we address this topic as part of a third-year programming course.
We focus on tools and techniques for monitoring and improving
performance, as well as the interaction between clean program design
and performance tuning.