Why Tools Matter

Capable and accessible infrastructure is an accelerant for good research, as it enables creative people to quickly and effectively explore new ideas. In this talk I will reflect upon my experiences with the SimpleScalar tool set, an open-source simulation infrastructure that has been employed by more than 3600 published papers. I will use SimpleScalar as a case for why more researchers should release their tools, and I will share with you my best advice for building and distributing research infrastructure. Finally, I will speculate on the future of computer engineering research tools, and suggest where budding infrastructure hackers might want to spend their efforts.

This talk was a keynote address at the 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Performance Analysis of Systems and Software (ISPASS-2008).