Patent ID: 7181736

Claim:
A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer system to evaluate locality of references for a layout of a computer program, the computer program to be executed by a computer system with a page architecture, each page having memory locations, by: for each of a plurality of selected memory locations of a page, estimating a working set size of the layout when the layout is positioned to start at that memory location, wherein the estimating of the change in the working set size includes filtering the actual change in working set size from one layout to the next with a filter that is generated from analysis of working set size produced during the improvement of other layouts; generating the filter using at least one of a frequency-domain analysis and a time-domain analysis of an actual rate of change per improvement and defined rate of change per improvement, the defined rate of change being calculated for each improvement based on knowledge of working set size of subsequent improvements; and combining the estimated working set size as an indication of the locality of references of the layout of the computer program.