[Qexo-general] Speed of execution

[Eric Safern]

Hi,

	I'm having some interesting performance issues I want to discuss with 
the list.

        My initial app is a simple implementation of fortune(6).

http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man6/fortune.6.html

With the full linux fortune data as its input (> 100,000 lines), the 
servlet takes 4 - 7 seconds on my test box, which strikes me as too long
for an impatient web surfer.  On a far smaller subset of data (4,000
lines), response time comes in at 1 - 2 seconds, which is still longer
than I'd like.

        My algorithm may be part of the problem - I grab the entire
block of fortunes in a particular type, then I choose a random number
between 1 and the number of fortunes of that type. Finally, I zoom in
on that particular fortune, which I display.

        Of course, this means I need to load a large block of fortunes
I don't really care about.  I did this because I need to know the
number of fortunes in the block in order to randomly choose one from
that range.  Is there a better way?  Clearly, hard-wiring the type
counts is not the answer.  I could have the info embedded in the xml,
but that would a) be tricky to code and b) be a hassle for those adding
new fortunes to the data.

        Any suggestions?

Here's some code:

        $cookies := 
document("/var/www/html/fortunes.xml")/fortunes/address@hidden/cookie,
        $min := 1,
        $max := count($cookies),
        $rnd := Rand($min,$max),
        $ck := $cookies [$rnd]
  return
        RenderPage ($ck)


        Are there any implementation level things I could do to speed up
my execution?  Different compilation methods / flags, etc. etc.?

If my DTD is relevant, here it is:

<!ELEMENT fortunes      (list+)>
<!ELEMENT list          (cookie+)>
<!ELEMENT cookie        (text, (author?))>
<!ELEMENT text          (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT author        (#PCDATA)>

<!ATTLIST list  type NMTOKEN "unknown">
<!ATTLIST cookie src NMTOKEN "unknown" id ID #REQUIRED>

and here's a short sample of the data for clarity:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE fortunes SYSTEM "http://linux.timebytes.com/dtds/fortunes.dtd";>
<fortunes xml:lang="en-US">>
<list type="linuxcookie">
<cookie src="linuxcookie" id="linuxcookie-1">
        <text>
                A Linux machine! because a 486 is a terrible thing to 
waste!
        </text>
        <author>
                address@hidden, Joe Sloan
        </author>
</cookie>
<cookie src="linuxcookie" id="linuxcookie-6">
        <text>
                &quot;All language designers are arrogant.  Goes with 
the territory...&quot;
        </text>
        <author>
                Larry Wall
        </author>
</cookie>

</list>
</fortunes>