Laufzeitüberhead

Laufzeitüberhead refers to the extra computational resources, such as time or memory, that are consumed by a computer program or algorithm beyond its core functional requirements. This overhead is often introduced by the underlying operating system, runtime environment, or the program's own design. Common sources of runtime overhead include process management, memory allocation and deallocation, inter-process communication, and system calls. For instance, when a program needs to perform an input/output operation, it must make a system call, which involves switching from user mode to kernel mode, a process that incurs a certain overhead. Similarly, dynamic memory allocation, while flexible, can add overhead due to the time taken to find and manage available memory blocks. Optimizing code to minimize runtime overhead is a crucial aspect of software engineering, especially in performance-critical applications, to ensure efficient resource utilization and faster execution. Understanding and identifying the sources of this overhead is the first step towards effective performance tuning.