Memory Profiling Techniques

Abstract: Memory profiling is an important technique which aids program optimization and can even help tracking down bugs. The main problem with the current memory profiling techniques and tools is that they slow down the target software considerably therefore making them inadequate for mainline integration. Ideally, the user would be able to monitor memory consumption without having to worry about the rest of the software being affected in any way. This thesis provides a comparison of existing techniques and tools along with the description of a memory profiler implementation which tries to provide a balance between the information it is able to retrieve and the influence it has on the target software.