README.md

Chrome Trace Event Format Profiler for C / C++ (CTEF Profiler)

A simple one-file (well, with header two-files) library written in C99 that lets you profile your C / C++ application visually by writing the trace into a json file in the trace event format used by Chrome / Chromium. This file can then be opened with Chrome's built-in tracing application (url: chrome://tracing)

Audience

This library is intended for small-scale projects mainly written in C. While it obviously also works in C++, there are probably better alternatives for pure C++ (primarily because you don't have to manually mark the end of a function / scope / program).

Usage

#define CTEF_PROFILE 1 // Enable profiling
#include <ctef_profile.h>

void do_something(void)
{
    CTEF_PROFILE_BEGIN_FUNCTION();

    /* Some code */

    CTEF_PROFILE_END_FUNCTION();
}

int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
{
    CTEF_PROFILE_BEGIN("profile.json");

    CTEF_PROFILE_BEGIN_SECTION(startup_probe, "Startup");

    /* some code */

    do_something();

    /* more code */

    CTEF_PROFILE_END_SECTION(startup_probe);

    do_something();

    CTEF_PROFILE_END();
    return 0;
}

First you have to call CTEF_PROFILE_BEGIN("some-file.json") before calling any of the other CTEF_ macros. It has to be paired with a call to CTEF_PROFILE_END() when your application exits.
The macro CTEF_PROFILE_BEGIN_SECTION(variable, "section-name") lets you create a section with a variable and name of your choice. It creates a probe which later has to be proceses with CTEF_PROFILE_END_SECTION(variable).
You can use CTEF_PROFILE_BEGIN_FUNCTION() and CTEF_PROFILE_END_FUNCTION() to mark a function. It will create a probe with the function's name and variable based on the function's name.

Appendix

Trace event format (duration events): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CvAClvFfyA5R-PhYUmn5OOQtYMH4h6I0nSsKchNAySU/edit#heading=h.nso4gcezn7n1