ANNOUNCE: Early Access of NetBeans Profiler now available for NetBeans IDE 3.6

We are pleased to announce that the first look at NetBeans Profiler, an
integrated CPU and memory profiler for NetBeans IDE 3.6, is now available.

The Profiler is based on the JFluid research project that has been in
development at SunLabs for the last two years and adds tight integration 
into
the NetBeans IDE and an improved user interface.

* Features

  The profiler provides the following features:

  - Memory profiling
     
    Tracking object allocations and garbage collection, with results showing
    the amount of memory occupied by instances of each class and the 
ability to
    determine from which places in the code those instances were created.
   
  - CPU performance profiling
 
    Measuring the performance of the entire application, specific 
feature or a
    code fragment, allowing you to pinpoint places in the code that cause
    performance problems upon application startup or during execution.

  - Low-overhead profiling
 
    Typical profilers, when using instrumentation profiling to provide 
accurate
    results, can impose a significant overhead on the application execution
    speed; 10-20x slowdown is not uncommon.
   
    One of the unique features of the NetBeans profiler is the ability to
    significantly decrease the profiling overhead by focusing the
    profiling instrumentation to a specific piece of code only. For 
example,
    this allows you to measure the performance of the execution of 
specific 
    feature without affecting the rest of the application's execution. 
    Similarly, the results are focused on that particular piece of code, 
which
    makes the analysis much easier.
 
  - Task-based approach
 
    NetBeans Profiler strives to significantly decrease the complexity of
    typical performance-related analysis. Built-in tasks (such as "Measure
    Memory Usage" or "Measure Startup Performance") enable you to preset 
the
    profiler to the configuration that is most suitable for that particular
    task, removing the need to understand deep details about how the
    profiler works.
   
  - Tight integration into the IDE workflow
 
    Similarly, the second half of simplification is provided by a very 
tight
    integration into the IDE workflow. Running the application in 
Profiler is
    done exactly the same way as regular execution, without the need for 
any
    complex class path or startup option setup.
   
  - Ability to attach to a running application
 
    Besides profiling an application that is started from within the 
IDE, the
    profiler can also attach to an application that is already running. For
    example, this can be useful for detecting problems that arise in 
    applications that have been up and running for several weeks before
    misbehaving, that have complex and non-standard startup procedures, 
or are
    J2EE applications running in a web server.
   
  - Ability to dynamically add/modify/remove profiling instrumentation
 
    Another of the unique features of NetBeans Profiler is the ability 
to add,
    modify or remove the profiling instrumentation while the profiled
    application is running. So, for instance, you could attach to an 
already
    running application that suddenly is having performance issues, look at
    what is happening in the VM, and then detach to remove all of the
    instrumentation. The application would then continue to run as it did
    before.
   
    It is also possible to switch between different types of profiling 
or tweak 
    profiling settings while the aplication is running.

* Download & Install

  0. If you do not have NetBeans IDE 3.6 installed yet, download it at
     http://www.netbeans.info/downloads/download.php?a=b&p=1 and install it.
    
  1. Pick the correct module package for your hardware platform and 
download:
 
    - for Windows: 
http://www.netbeans.org/download/profiler/profiler-m1-windows.nbm
    - for Linux: 
http://www.netbeans.org/download/profiler/profiler-m1-linux.nbm
    - for Solaris Sparc: 
http://www.netbeans.org/download/profiler/profiler-m1-solsparc.nbm
    - for Solaris X86: 
http://www.netbeans.org/download/profiler/profiler-m1-solx86.nbm
    
  2. Start NetBeans IDE 3.6 and go to Tools | Update Center.
 
  3. In the wizard that opens select "Install Manually Downloaded 
Modules" and
     click Next.
  
  4. Select the NBM file that you have downloaded in step 1.
   
  5. Finish the wizard by following its instructions.
 
  The IDE will automatically restart (on Windows the restart is not 
required).
 
  After the IDE starts again, the IDE will have a "Profile" menu and two
  more icons on the toolbar that give you access to the profiling features.

* Documentation

  There is basic documentation bundled with the profiler that can be 
accessed
  in the IDE via Profile | Help menu.
 
  The docs are also available online at 
http://profiler.netbeans.org/docs/ea/help.html

* Project Roadmap

  The current project roadmap is as follows:

    Early Access: August 2004
    Beta Release: with NetBeans 4.0
    Final Release: with NetBeans 4.1
   
  We plan to add many new features, primarily based on the feedback from 
the
  early access releases. For this reason, the plan is to make frequent 
usable
  releases during the entire development cycle in a form of Milestones, 
roughly
  every four weeks.

* More information

  More information can be found on the project website at 
http://profiler.netbeans.org

* Feedback

  We are very excited about this project, and believe that the key for its
  success is user feedback, validating the design and features of the 
profiler
  throughout its development. For this reason, we welcome any feedback and
  closer engagement of users in helping us to shape the profiler to 
their needs.
 
  To give us feedback, go to http://www.profiler.org, send us e-mail at
  mailto://[email protected], or subscribe to
  [email protected] mailing list.
 
  To file bugreports, go to http://www.netbeans.org/issues/enter_bug.cgi
  (please note that you must be logged in on the netbeans.org website) and
  select the "profiler" component.
 
  To be notified about what is happening with the profiler, you can also
  subscribe to announce-only, low-traffic mailing list
  [email protected]
 
  For instructions on how to subsribe please go to:
  http://profiler.netbeans.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList
 

The JFluid/NetBeans Profiler team