Surface Benchmarker

Surface Benchmarker Skill

This skill provides guidelines for AI agents to run and interpret performance benchmarks for the Hex1b Surface API. Run benchmarks whenever you modify code in src/Hex1b/Surfaces/ to ensure performance is not regressed.

Quick Reference

When to Run Benchmarks

ALWAYS run benchmarks after modifying:

Benchmark Harness Architecture

Project Structure

benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks/
├── Hex1b.Benchmarks.csproj    # Console app with BenchmarkDotNet
├── Program.cs                  # Entry point
└── SurfaceBenchmarks.cs        # Surface API benchmarks

How BenchmarkDotNet Works

BenchmarkDotNet is a .NET performance benchmarking library that:

1. Warms up the JIT by running the benchmark multiple times before measuring
2. Runs multiple iterations to get statistically significant results
3. Reports mean, median, standard deviation for each benchmark
4. Tracks memory allocations (when [MemoryDiagnoser] is enabled)

Benchmark Lifecycle

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. GlobalSetup                                                  │
│    - Runs once before all benchmarks                            │
│    - Creates pre-allocated surfaces, diffs, etc.                │
│    - Sets up shared test data                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2. For each [Benchmark] method:                                 │
│    a. Warmup phase (JIT compilation, cache warming)             │
│    b. Pilot phase (determine optimal iteration count)           │
│    c. Actual measurements (multiple iterations)                 │
│    d. Results aggregation                                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3. Report Generation                                            │
│    - Console output with statistics                             │
│    - Optional: HTML, CSV, JSON exports                          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Benchmark Attributes

Benchmark Categories

Surface Creation (CreateSurface_*)

Measures allocation and initialization cost for surfaces of various sizes.

[Benchmark]
public Surface CreateSurface_Small() => new Surface(80, 24);    // Standard terminal
public Surface CreateSurface_Medium() => new Surface(160, 48);  // Large terminal
public Surface CreateSurface_Large() => new Surface(320, 96);   // Very large
public Surface CreateSurface_4K() => new Surface(480, 135);     // 4K equivalent

What to watch for:

• Memory allocation should scale linearly with cell count
• No unexpected allocations from internal data structures

Text Writing (WriteText_*)

Measures grapheme parsing and wide character handling.

[Benchmark]
public void WriteText_Short();      // "Hello"
public void WriteText_Medium();     // Standard sentence
public void WriteText_Long();       // Long paragraph
public void WriteText_WideChars();  // Chinese characters (2 cells each)
public void WriteText_FillScreen(); // 24 lines of text

What to watch for:

• Wide characters should not be drastically slower than ASCII
• FillScreen should scale linearly

Fill Operations (Fill_*)

Measures bulk cell assignment.

[Benchmark]
public void Fill_SmallRect();   // 20x10 region
public void Fill_FullScreen();  // 80x24
public void Fill_LargeScreen(); // 320x96

What to watch for:

• Should approach memory bandwidth limits for large fills
• Minimal overhead per cell

Compositing (Composite_*, CompositeSurface_*)

Measures layer merging and transparency resolution.

[Benchmark]
public void Composite_SmallOntoSmall();         // 20x10 onto 80x24
public void Composite_MediumOntoLarge();        // 80x24 onto 320x96
public Surface CompositeSurface_Flatten_3Layers();  // Resolve 3 layers
public SurfaceCell CompositeSurface_GetCell_Resolved();  // Single cell lookup
public void CompositeSurface_GetAllCells();     // 80x24 = 1920 lookups

What to watch for:

• Flatten should be O(layers × cells)
• Single cell lookup should be fast for interactive rendering

Diff Comparison (Compare_*)

Measures change detection.

[Benchmark]
public SurfaceDiff Compare_FullDiff();    // 100% of cells changed
public SurfaceDiff Compare_SparseDiff();  // ~10% of cells changed
public SurfaceDiff Compare_NoDiff();      // 0% changed
public SurfaceDiff CompareToEmpty();      // Initial render

What to watch for:

• NoDiff should be very fast (early exit when possible)
• Memory allocation should be proportional to changed cell count

Token Generation (ToTokens_*, ToAnsiString_*)

Measures ANSI escape sequence generation.

[Benchmark]
public IReadOnlyList<AnsiToken> ToTokens_FullDiff();  // Generate tokens
public string ToAnsiString_FullDiff();                // Tokens → string
public string ToAnsiString_SparseDiff();              // Fewer changes

What to watch for:

• String building should be efficient
• SGR optimization should reduce output size

Running Benchmarks

Full Benchmark Suite

cd /home/midenn/Code/hex1b
dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- --filter "Surface*"

Expected runtime: 5-15 minutes depending on hardware.

Quick Validation (Dry Run)

dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- --filter "Surface*" --job dry

This runs fewer iterations to quickly verify benchmarks work without waiting for full statistical accuracy.

Specific Benchmark Groups

# Only WriteText benchmarks
dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- --filter "*WriteText*"

# Only Diff/Token generation
dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- --filter "*Compare*|*Token*|*Ansi*"

# Single benchmark
dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- --filter "*Fill_FullScreen*"

Interpreting Results

Reading the Output

| Method                | Mean       | Error    | StdDev   | Gen0   | Allocated |
|-----------------------|------------|----------|----------|--------|-----------|
| CreateSurface_Small   | 12.34 μs   | 0.15 μs  | 0.14 μs  | 1.2345 | 15.36 KB  |
| CreateSurface_Large   | 98.76 μs   | 1.23 μs  | 1.15 μs  | 9.8765 | 122.88 KB |

Performance Expectations

Note: These are rough guidelines. Actual values depend on hardware.

Comparing Before/After

When making changes:

1. Before changes: Run benchmarks and save output
2. Make changes
3. After changes: Run benchmarks again
4. Compare: Look for significant regressions (>20% slower)

# Save before results
dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- \
    --filter "Surface*" --exporters json > before.json

# Make changes...

# Compare (manual inspection)
dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- \
    --filter "Surface*" --exporters json > after.json

Common Performance Issues

Issue 1: Excessive Allocations

Symptom: High Allocated column, many Gen0 collections.

Common causes:

• Creating new arrays/lists inside hot loops
• Boxing value types (e.g., storing SurfaceCell in object)
• String concatenation without StringBuilder

Fix strategies:

• Use ArrayPool<T>.Shared for temporary buffers
• Use Span<T> and stack allocation for small buffers
• Pre-allocate and reuse collections

Issue 2: Poor Cache Locality

Symptom: Large surfaces are disproportionately slower than small ones.

Common causes:

• Column-major access pattern on row-major data
• Jumping around in memory instead of sequential access

Fix strategies:

• Access cells in row-major order (for y, then for x)
• Process contiguous memory regions when possible

Issue 3: Redundant Work

Symptom: Operations are slower than expected for the amount of data.

Common causes:

• Recalculating values that could be cached
• Not short-circuiting when result is known
• Unnecessary defensive copies

Fix strategies:

• Cache computed values (e.g., display width for text)
• Early exit when no changes detected
• Use readonly and in parameters to avoid copies

Adding New Benchmarks

When adding new functionality to the Surface API, add corresponding benchmarks:

[Benchmark]
public void NewFeature_TypicalCase()
{
    // Benchmark the common case
    _surface.NewMethod(typicalInput);
}

[Benchmark]
public void NewFeature_WorstCase()
{
    // Benchmark the worst case for regression detection
    _surface.NewMethod(worstCaseInput);
}

Guidelines for New Benchmarks

1. Use pre-allocated data in [GlobalSetup] - don't measure setup time
2. Return or use the result - prevent dead code elimination
3. Benchmark realistic scenarios - not just micro-benchmarks
4. Include edge cases - empty inputs, large inputs, worst-case patterns

CI Integration (Future)

Benchmarks can be integrated into CI to catch regressions:

# .github/workflows/benchmarks.yml (example)
- name: Run benchmarks
  run: |
    dotnet run -c Release --project benchmarks/Hex1b.Benchmarks -- \
      --filter "Surface*" --exporters json
    
- name: Compare with baseline
  run: |
    # Compare against stored baseline, fail if regression > 20%

Checklist for Surface API Changes

Before merging changes to src/Hex1b/Surfaces/:

• Run relevant benchmarks before and after changes
• No benchmark regressed by more than 20%
• Memory allocations did not significantly increase
• Add benchmarks for any new public methods
• Document any intentional performance tradeoffs

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