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Zheng Wang, Harvard University

Abstract:

My research interests include performance measurement, system software and program optimization. In 1996 I participated in a research project on PC system performance measurement (joint work with Yasuhiro Endo). Instead of using throughput metrics as in conventional methodology, we used event handling latency to analyze the behavior of interactive workloads. This work was conducted on several common interactive systems including Windows 95 and two versions of Windows NT. We developed measurement techniques and benchmark methodologies that directly and precisely measure latency in the context of interactive applications. A paper documenting this research, "Using Latency to Evaluate Interactive System Performance," appeared in the Second Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI `96) Proceedings.

Currently I'm working on the Morph project. Morph combines operating systems and compiler technologies to provide a practical framework for using advanced compiler optimizations to improve overall system performance. In Morph, the operating system supports automatic and continuous collection of profile information on an end-user's computer system, and apply profile-driven, machine-specific compiler optimizations on application programs to achieve continued performance improvement. For the goal of practicality, PCs are the main target of the Morph project. Our current implementation of Morph is done on UNIX platform. In the near future we will work on implementing Morph on x86 machines running Windows NT. A paper that describes the Morph system, "System Support for Automatic Profiling and Optimization," will be presented at the 16th ACM Symposium of Operating Systems Principles (SOSP) in October, 1997.

Zheng Wang, Ph.D. Candidate
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
Address: 110 Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge MA 02138 USA
Email: zhwang@eecs.harvard.edu
Phone: (617)496-8031
URL: https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~zhwang