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In article <384@astroatc.UUCP> philm@astroatc.UUCP (Phil Mason) writes:
>One basic unit of mechanical power is that of Horsepower.  A horsepower is the 
>amount of power necessary to raise 33,000 pounds by one foot in one minute.
>
>I think we should look towards this example in order to get a bearing on the
>kind of measurement we all need in the enviroment of computer benchmarking.
>
>Power is defined to be the time rate at which work is done.  That leaves us
>in a little bit of a quandry.  What is a unit of work for computer systems?
>It must be related to how the CPU affects the information it processes.

   What about I/O bound tasks?  Do you want to measure 'floating-point
division power' or 'BCD addition power'.  
   Your analogy with earlier machines is quite apt, except that it must be
pointed out that, as mechanical devices do not all perform the same tasks,
neither do computers perform the same tasks.  Comparing a can opener and a
lawnmower is like comparing a System/36 and an array processor.  The lawnmower
may have more horsepower than the can opener, but it is useless for opening
cans.  Likewise, the can opener lacks 'lawnmowing power'.  The System/36
may do a poor job of Fourier transformation, but I'd hate to see something
like a COBOL payroll program running on an array processor.
    Computing power CANNOT be measured in one scalar number.
-- 
-------
Disclaimer: Everything I say is probably a trademark of someone.  But
            don't worry, I probably don't know what I'm talking about.

Scott Dorsey       " If value corrupts
kaptain_kludge         then absolute value corrupts absolutely"

ICS Programming Lab (Where old terminals go to die), Rich 110,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Box 36681, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
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