True enough, but I think the introduction is pretty tractable and contains some pretty important (but subtle) points about memory allocator performance. Quoth the paper:
It is not sufficient to measure the time consumed by the allocator code in isolation. Memory layout can have a significant impact on how quickly the rest of the application runs, due to the effects of CPU cache, RAM, and virtual memory paging.
The only definitive measures of allocator performance are attained by measuring the execution time and memory usage of real applications. This poses challenges when qualifying the performance characteristics of allocators. Consider that an allocator might perform very poorly for certain allocation patterns, but if none of the benchmarked applications manifest any such patterns, then the allocator may appear to perform well, despite pathological performance for some work loads. This makes testing with a wide variety of applications important. It also motivates an approach to allocator design that minimizes the number and severity of degenerate edge cases.
It is not sufficient to measure the time consumed by the allocator code in isolation. Memory layout can have a significant impact on how quickly the rest of the application runs, due to the effects of CPU cache, RAM, and virtual memory paging.
The only definitive measures of allocator performance are attained by measuring the execution time and memory usage of real applications. This poses challenges when qualifying the performance characteristics of allocators. Consider that an allocator might perform very poorly for certain allocation patterns, but if none of the benchmarked applications manifest any such patterns, then the allocator may appear to perform well, despite pathological performance for some work loads. This makes testing with a wide variety of applications important. It also motivates an approach to allocator design that minimizes the number and severity of degenerate edge cases.