Book excerpt: Initially, computer systems performance analyses were carried out primarily because of limited resources. Due to ever increasing functional complexity of computational systems and user requirements, performance engineering continues to play a major role in software development. This book assesses the state of the art in performance engineering. Besides revised chapters drawn from two workshops on performance engineering held in 2000, additional chapters were solicited in order to provide complete coverage of all relevant aspects. The first part is devoted to the relation between software engineering and performance engineering; the second part focuses on the use of models, measures, and tools; finally, case studies with regard to concrete technologies are presented. Researchers, professional software engineers, and advanced students interested in performance analysis will find this book an indispensable source of information and reference.