How do I use Criterion for benchmarking in Rust?

How do I use Criterion for benchmarking in Rust?

Criterion is a powerful benchmarking library for Rust. First, add it to your Cargo.toml file under [dev-dependencies] like this:

[dev-dependencies]
criterion = "0.3"

Then, create a new file in the benches directory, for example, my_benchmark.rs. You can define benchmarks using the Criterion struct.

Can you show me a simple example of a benchmark?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

use criterion::{black_box, criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};

fn my_function() {
    // Your code here
}

fn benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
    c.bench_function("my_function", |b| b.iter(|| my_function()));
}

criterion_group!(benches, benchmark);
criterion_main!(benches);

This will benchmark my_function.

How do I run the benchmarks?

You can run the benchmarks using the command:

cargo bench

This will compile your benchmarks and execute them, providing you with detailed output on their performance.

What kind of output can I expect?

The output will include the time taken for each benchmark, along with statistical information like mean, median, and standard deviation. You'll get a clear view of how your function performs.