Quick Start

Get Prepared

With PyMimircache, testing/profiling cache replacement algorithms is very easy. Let’s begin by getting a cachecow object from PyMimircache:

>>> from PyMimircache import Cachecow
>>> c = Cachecow()

Open Trace File

Now let’s open a trace file. You have three choices for opening different types of trace files. Choose the one that suits your needs.

>>> c.open("trace/file/location")
>>> c.csv("trace/file/location", init_params={'label':x})  # specify which column contains the request key(label)
>>> c.vscsi("trace/file/location")          # for vscsi format data
>>> c.binary("trace/file/location", init_params={"label": x, "fmt": xxx})   # use same format as python struct

see here for details.

Get Basic Statistics

You can get some statistics about the trace, for example how many request, how may unique requests.

Functions Parameters Description
num_of_req None return the number of requests in the trace
num_of_uniq_req None return the number of unique requests in the trace
stat None get a list of statistical information about the trace
characterize type (short/medium/long/all) plot a series of fig, type indicates run time
len None return the number of requests in the trace

If you want to read your data from cachecow, you can simply use cachecow as an iterator, for example, doing the following:

>>> for request in c:
>>>     print(c)

Profiler and Profiling

Now cachecow supports basic profiling, to conduct complex profiling, you still need to get a profiler. With a profiler, you can obtain the reuse distance of a request, the hit count and hit ratio of at a certain size, you can even directly plot the hit ratio curve (HRC). See here for details.

cachecow supports two type of profiling right now, calculate reuse distance and calculate hit ratio. The syntax is listed below.

>>> # get an array of reuse distance
>>> c.get_reuse_distance()
>>> # get a dictionary of cache size -> hit ratio
>>> c.get_hit_ratio_dict(algorithm, cache_size=-1, cache_params=None, bin_size=-1)

See API-cachecow section for details.

Two Dimensional Plotting

cachecow supports the following two dimensional figures,
plot type required parameters Description
cold_miss_count time_mode, time_interval cold miss count VS time
cold_miss_ratio time_mode, time_interval coid miss ratio VS time
request_rate time_mode, time_interval num of requests VS time
popularity NA Percentage of obj VS frequency
rd_popularity NA Num of req VS reuse distance
rt_popularity NA Num of req VS reuse time
mapping NA mapping from original objID to sequential number
interval_hit_ratio cache_size hit ratio of interval VS time

The basic syntax for plotting the two dimensional figures is here

>>> # see table for plot_type names
>>> c.twoDPlot(plot_type, **kwargs)

See API-twoDPlots section and basic plotting for details.

Hit Ratio Curve Plotting

cachecow supports plotting against a list of cache replacement algorithms, using the following syntax:

>>> plotHRCs(algorithm_list, cache_params=(), cache_size=-1, bin_size=-1, auto_resize=True, figname="HRC.png", **kwargs)

See API-LRUProfiler and API-cGeneralProfiler section and basic plotting for details.

Heatmap Plotting

cachecow supports basic heatmap plotting, and supported plot type is listed below.

>>> # plot heatmaps
>>> heatmap(time_mode, plot_type, time_interval=-1, num_of_pixels=-1, algorithm="LRU", cache_params=None, cache_size=-1, **kwargs)
>>> # plot differential heatmaps
>>> diff_heatmap(time_mode, plot_type, algorithm1, time_interval=-1, num_of_pixels=-1, algorithm2="Optimal", cache_params1=None, cache_params2=None, cache_size=-1, **kwargs)
plot type Description
  • hit_ratio_start_time_end_time
Hit ratio heatmap of given start time and end time
  • hit_ratio_start_time_cache_size (python only)
Hit ratio heatmap of given start time and cache size
  • avg_rd_start_time_end_time (python only)
Average reuse distance of start time and end time
  • cold_miss_count_start_time_end_time (python only)
deprecated
  • rd_distribution
Heatmap of reuse distance distribution over time
  • rd_distribution_CDF
Heatmap (CDF) of reuse distance distribution over time
  • future_rd_distribution
Heatmap of future reuse distribution over time
  • dist_distribution
Heatmap of distance distribution over time
  • reuse_time_distribution
Heatmap of reuse time distribution over time

Heatmap plotting section describes how to use PyMimircache to plot heatmaps. See API-cHeatmap section and here for details.

Congratulations! You have finished the basic tutorial! Check Advanced Usage part if you need.