Addressing Software Performance Regressions in DevOps

Abstract:

      Performance regression is an important type of performance issue in software systems. It indicates that the performance of the same features in the new version of the software becomes worse than that of previous versions, such as increased response time or higher resource utilization. In order to prevent performance regressions, current practices often rely on conducting extensive system performance testing before releasing the system into production. However, faced with a great demand for resources and time to perform system performance testing, it is often challenging to adopt such approaches to the practice of fast-paced development and release cycles, e.g., DevOps.

In this talk, I will present the challenges of addressing performance regressions in the era of rapid software engineering process, and how my research has contributed to helping developers detect performance regressions and locate the corresponding root causes by utilizing the software development data and production data. Furthermore, I will outline my vision for a more comprehensive and proactive approach to ensure the performance of AI-centric software.

Biography:

     Lizhi Liao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), Canada. Prior to that, he received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include software performance engineering, software log analysis, and AI software system quality. His work has been published at flagship conferences such as ICSE, FSE and ASE, as well as in premier journals including TSE, TOSEM, EMSE, and JSS. Furthermore, his industrial experience includes helping improve the performance of large-scale software systems and his research tools have been integrated into industrial practices to ensure the quality of multiple enterprise systems on a daily basis. You can find more about him at https://www.cs.mun.ca/~lliao/.

ZOOM Link: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/j/82993403953?pwd=7wfiESRfaHoLbYFNL7KIKwjp3qL1f9.1