... version of the program, version of compiler, optimizing level of compiled code, version of operating system,amount of main memory, number and types of disks, version of the CPU—all of which ... by a factor of more than 9 over an ear-lier version of the compiler! This benchmark tested compiler performance andwas not, of course, a good indication of overall performance, nor of this particu-lar ... the usefulness of a benchmark as a predictor of real per-formance and some of these may change over time. A big factor influencing theusefulness of a benchmark is the ability of the benchmark...