Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) Certification Practice Test

Which profiling option captures precise timing information for functions called?

1. CPU Sampling

2. Lightweight Instrumentation

3. .NET memory allocation

4. Resource contention data

The correct answer is: Lightweight Instrumentation

The profiling option that captures precise timing information for functions called is Lightweight Instrumentation. This technique provides detailed performance data by inserting probes directly into the code of the application, allowing developers to track the execution time of specific functions accurately. It minimizes the overhead typically associated with other profiling methods while offering better fidelity in the timing information collected. Lightweight Instrumentation works effectively in performance analysis and allows developers to identify bottlenecks in their code with high precision, which is essential for optimizing applications. By using this method, developers can gain insights into how long various functions take to execute during actual run time, enabling targeted optimizations based on accurate metrics. While other profiling options have their specific uses, they do not provide the same level of granularity in timing data. For instance, CPU Sampling gives a general overview of CPU usage but lacks the detail about specific function execution times, and the .NET memory allocation focuses on memory usage rather than timing. Resource contention data monitors competition for resources but does not provide direct timing statistics for function calls.