I carried out some experiments with Intel Parallel Inspector in memory-error diagnosis mode. I can say that I liked the product and the work it does. I was especially impressed by perfect integration into Visual Studio and full support of 64-bit projects what will be appreciated by Bounds Checker users.
Mostly, I experimented with Viva64 project and managed to find one rather serious error.
I liked the graphical interface of the settings of Parallel Inspector launch mode very much - it is simple and clear:
I liked the indicator showing how much the current analysis type can slow down a program’s execution. I liked this approach, the design and clearness of what to expect so much that I decided to check this indicator’s accuracy at Viva64 project. Of course sampling is unrepresentative, but still it was very interesting. Here are the results of launching the 64-bit debug-version of Viva64:
| Launch mode | Expected slowdown according to Parallel Inspector scale | Actual slowdown when testing Viva64 project |
| Without Parallel Inspector | No slowdown | (1.23 sec) - no slowdown |
| “Does my target leak memory?” | 2 - 20 times | (17.70 sec) - 14.4 times |
| “Does my target have memory access problems?” | 10 - 40 times | (72.57 sec) - 59 times |
| “Where are the memory access problems?” | 20 - 80 times | (70.80 sec) - 57.6 times |
| “Where are all the memory problems Inspector can find?” | 40 - 160 times | (404.82 sec) - 329.1 times |
I think that estimation of slowdown is rather accurate for a project about which you know nothing. The last mode is a bit out of tune but unlike a common program, a large size of operations in Viva64 relates to memory allocation when building and analyzing a syntax tree. That’s why it is quite natural that actual slowdown in this case is a bit larger than it was expected.
Slowdowns caused by Intel Parallel Inspector don’t confuse me at all and I consider them natural and even not large for a dynamic analysis tool implementing such functionality. Yet you should understand that it is not good to build methodology of using such dynamic analyzers in the mode of working with the program on-line. It is better to use batch launch or automatic testing systems which will diligently click buttons in the application being tested at night without worrying that they may respond in minutes or hours.
To sum it up, I would like to say that this is a very good tool. So I recommend it to you.
Tags: Intel
