Comparisons against modelled cache misses, n = 2048

Comparisons against modelled cache misses, n = 2048

One point per algorithm, both axes logarithmic. If the comparison count determined the memory behaviour the points would fall on a line, and they do not: Merge sort and Quicksort, median-3 and Merge + cutoff sit at least two places apart in the two rankings. Cache model: fully associative · 64 lines × 8 elements · LRU. The vertical axis is a modelled miss count, not a time.

Drawn at 690 × 420, wide on the page. Everything above is what two-quantities returns with no arguments; the caption is the generator's own, computed from the numbers in the drawing rather than written beside it.

4 essays call two-quantities. The drawing above is what it returns with no arguments at all; every call below passes it something, because a placement that passes nothing draws whichever member of the family the generator happens to default to rather than the one its essay argues about — which is what optcheck and figfill exist to catch.