The SE Toolkit is
- An interpreter for a programming language that is
both a subset of C and C++. Syntactically, it looks like C, but it
contains a limited class mechanism.
- Include files for use by toolkit scripts.
- A bunch of example scripts.
- A set of extensions for writing GUIs and "network aware" scripts.
The purpose of SymbEL, the language of the SE Toolkit, was to provide a
flexible programming language for developing scripts for performance
analysis. Inherent in the language are primitives for accessing performance
data within the operating system. Instead of writing the long, arduous
C code for accessing performance data, just define the variable and access
it. The interpreter reads the data and places it in the variable.
Since the interpreter uses the C preprocessor, include files have been
created which encapsulate more complex logic in the form of classes, that
in turn can be used in scripts. Some of the examples in the toolkit are
quite complex, including virtual_adrian.se, a code based "virtual guru"
written by Adrian Cockcroft. zoom.se, written by me, Rich Pettit, is a
graphical version of virtual_adrian.
Many other people have written quite complex programs with the toolkit,
including BBN Planet, whose SE Toolkit performance analysis system is
so complex they keep it under lock and key. Intellectual property. Hmph.
What makes the Toolkit so powerful, is that it extracts performance data
from the system without becoming one of the performance problems that needs
to be investigated. Not only are the access methods used very lightweight,
but the interpreter itself is written such that execution speed is very
fast. This is due my considerable skill in writing interpreters. (Hey, I've
been doing it for over 10 years. You get to learn something after a while.)
In Adrian's words, "It's faster than any interpreted language has a right
to be.".
In the end though, it is really just a toolkit. It's the Home Depot.
Everything you need to build a house. All you need to do is, well, build
the house. If you're looking for the house already built, and a real
nice house at that, pop over to
Quest Software and take a look at
Foglight.
