ABSTRACT
It is important for a system designer to be able to predict the cost and time required to design the system. This chapter introduces the reader to the major factors that affect cost of a processor design and discusses how these factors are changing over time. The best way to understand the effect of metrics and constraints on design is to understand the difference between analysis and design. Performance of a system is a measure of how long a system takes to execute a desired application. Many metrics have been proposed to measure performance. The chapter describes some of the most commonly used performance metrics and evaluates the characteristics of a good performance metric. Many measures have been devised in an attempt to create standard and easy-touse measures of computer performance. Clock rate, Mega Instruction per Second and Mega FLoating point OPeration are the best examples of such simple performance metrics; using any of them results in sometimes incorrect conclusions.
