introduce chip preparation step before running any benchmarks

Author: David, Mark H

benchmarking/quilc-perf.lisp

@@ -75,11 +75,14 @@
   '(:fully-connected :linear))
 
 (defun build-benchmark-chip (nq type)
-  (ecase type
-    (:fully-connected
-     (cl-quil::build-nq-fully-connected-chip nq))
-    (:linear
-     (cl-quil::build-nq-linear-chip nq))))
+  (let ((chip-spec
+         (ecase type
+           (:fully-connected
+            (cl-quil::build-nq-fully-connected-chip nq))
+           (:linear
+            (cl-quil::build-nq-linear-chip nq)))))
+    (prepare-chip-for-benchmarking chip-spec)
+    chip-spec))
 
 (defun build-benchmark-program (nq type)
   (ecase type
@@ -173,6 +176,25 @@
 
 
 
+(defun get-epsilon-program ()
+  "Get a 'null' or 'nop' program, i.e., the most minimal program that
+  makes the compiler go through its paces, e.g., doing any warming or
+  caching that may take considerable time and that would normally be
+  avoided on subsequent runs. For now, the program is merely \"I 0\"."
+  (quil:parse "I 0"))
+
+(defun prepare-chip-for-benchmarking (chip-spec)
+  "Do normal preparations for chip benchmarking, namely, by doing a
+  compilation on a minimal program, which presumably may result in
+  'warming up' and/or caching. The idea is to NOT have time for this
+  dominate the results of the first program benchmarked."
+  (do-one-quilc-perf-run (get-epsilon-program) chip-spec))
+
+;; Consider moving the above function (or some variant) to cl-quil and
+;; then making it a standard or optional part of building a chip
+;; and/or at least calling it from places, e.g., from the app.
+
+
 (defun benchmark-one-quilc-perf (nq program-type chip-type)
   (let* ((program (get-or-build-benchmark-program nq program-type))
          (chip (get-or-build-benchmark-chip nq chip-type)))