Project 6: Message Queue Performance Benchmark

A benchmark comparing POSIX vs System V message queues, pipes, and Unix domain sockets.

Quick Reference

Attribute Value
Primary Language C
Alternative Languages N/A
Difficulty Level 2 (Intermediate)
Time Estimate See main guide
Knowledge Area Performance Analysis, IPC
Tooling See main guide
Prerequisites See main guide

What You Will Build

A benchmark comparing POSIX vs System V message queues, pipes, and Unix domain sockets.

Why It Matters

This project builds core skills that appear repeatedly in real-world systems and tooling.

Core Challenges

  • Identify the tricky edge cases and design for them.

Key Concepts

  • Map the project to core concepts before you code.

Real-World Outcome

$ ./ipc_benchmark --msg-size=1024 --iterations=100000

IPC Mechanism Benchmark (1KB messages, 100K iterations)
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Mechanism              Throughput     Latency (avg)   Latency (p99)
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Pipe                   1.2 GB/s       0.8 μs          2.1 μs
FIFO                   1.1 GB/s       0.9 μs          2.4 μs
Unix Domain Socket     1.4 GB/s       0.7 μs          1.8 μs
POSIX Message Queue    0.8 GB/s       1.2 μs          3.5 μs
System V Message Queue 0.6 GB/s       1.6 μs          4.2 μs
Shared Memory + Sem    2.8 GB/s       0.3 μs          0.8 μs

Winner: Shared Memory (for raw throughput)
Best simplicity: Unix Domain Socket

Implementation Guide

  1. Reproduce the simplest happy-path scenario.
  2. Build the smallest working version of the core feature.
  3. Add input validation and error handling.
  4. Add instrumentation/logging to confirm behavior.
  5. Refactor into clean modules with tests.

Milestones

  • Milestone 1: Minimal working program that runs end-to-end.
  • Milestone 2: Correct outputs for typical inputs.
  • Milestone 3: Robust handling of edge cases.
  • Milestone 4: Clean structure and documented usage.

Validation Checklist

  • Output matches the real-world outcome example
  • Handles invalid inputs safely
  • Provides clear errors and exit codes
  • Repeatable results across runs

References

  • Main guide: UNIX_IPC_STEVENS_VOL2_MASTERY.md
  • Primary references are listed in the main guide