Performance optimization, like regular tune-ups in the garage, is essential for protecting your application investment. It will keep it running smoothly and efficiently for many years. This is so important that it has been called many things: software optimization, application performance management, and code optimization.
What Is Application Optimization (Application Optimization)?
Application optimization is a set of standards and best practices that developers follow to ensure that software applications run optimally. It is important to maintain application performance. But it is also important to do so efficiently, i.e., using fewer resources and avoiding expensive technical debt.
The best weapon a company has against deprecation and poor performance of the software is optimization. There are many reasons why software is problematic. The most obvious cause is poorly written code, but the code could also be outdated and unable to keep up with the latest tech. It could also be code that was tested in a limited environment with a few users and couldn't handle the load.
No matter what the reason, optimizing application performance could have a positive impact on your business.
Why Performance of Applications Matters
Imagine a call center for a company where customers can phone in and get help. How often have you heard a service representative on another line typing furiously at their keyboard and apologizing that the system was slow? They also complained about delays in retrieving the important information needed to answer your concern or question.
In nearly all industries, mission-critical software is used by companies and their employees in -based roles. This software is almost always open and is where the most important business processes take place. When an application that is so important performs inefficiently, users begin to feel the impact. The user may find it difficult to stay focused on the task. They may miss out on the chance to use the information in situations that are time-sensitive, such as the example of customer service above.
Poor performance in customer-facing software can cause even more serious problems. The software frustrates and aggravates your customers rather than helping them do business with you and giving your company a competitive edge. The customer may try to reload the page, which can cause more delays and problems for the application.
App performance can have a direct impact on company metrics such as employee productivity and performance. This impact can easily be extended to key operational goals across departments, such as revenue and customer satisfaction. This can lead to a loss of customers. Add to this the costs of expensive workarounds to fix an application that crashes constantly or the risk that every business process will grind to a stop to fix a critical mistake.
Performance is no longer an option but a necessity for businesses that rely on customized applications.
It is important to focus on improving performance in order to benefit from all these metrics. What are some ways to evaluate and measure maximizing software performance optimization in order to determine where you should focus your efforts?
When Is It Time To Update Your Custom Application?
Performance optimization software and programs is the process of improving software to work more efficiently.
Monitoring and analyzing an application's performance and finding ways to improve it is the key to having a functional application.
Performance optimization focuses on improving one or two aspects of a system's performance. For example, execution time, memory consumption, disk space, bandwidth, etc. Usually, this will require a compromise whereby one aspect of the system is sacrificed to improve another. For example, increasing the size cache can improve run-time performance but increase memory consumption.
Levels Of Optimization
Design Level
- It is possible to optimize the design of a system in order to best utilize the resources available, given the goals and the expected load.
- The architecture of a system is a key factor that affects its performance.
- A system with a high network latency, for example, can be optimized so that it makes fewer network requests.
Data Structures and Algorithms
- The algorithm and the data structures play a key role in the performance of a system.
- If we want to ensure that a system has been optimized, then the algorithms should be constant O(1), linear O(n), logarithmic logarithmic logarithmic log n, or log-linear logarithmic log-linear log-linear logarithmic log n.
- The quadratic complexity algorithm O(n2) fails to scale
- Abstract data types are better for system optimization
Source Code Level
- Source code selection is also crucial for system optimization when it comes to the implementation of algorithms.
Build Level
- It is possible to optimize for specific processors by disabling non-essential software features.
NB Optimizing code or technologies to improve performance can reduce readability, complicate systems, and make them more difficult to maintain and debug. It is therefore recommended to optimize at the end stage of development.
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Client and Server-side Optimization
Application code is a mix of client-side and server-side code. Both sides of your application may have performance issues.
Client-side refers to the way performance is displayed on the web browser or in the user interface. This includes the initial page loading time, the downloading of all resources, JavaScript running in the browser, the image load time, etc.
The server-side refers to the time it takes for a request to be executed on the server. Optimizing server performance is usually about optimizing database queries and application dependencies.
Client Side Performance Optimization
Here are some tips to improve performance on the client-side
Caching and Content Delivery Networks
Content delivery networks (CDNs) are an intelligent way to manage static files such as JavaScript, CSS, and image files that do not change.
Examples of codes: Cloudflare (Amazon AWS), MaxCDN, Quickly, etc.
Bundle and Minification
Performance is improved by bundling files and producing fewer files
Performance can be improved by removing unnecessary characters, such as white spaces.
Optimizing Image Usage
Images can be made smaller and optimized in most cases
If you use several small icons, it's best to only use Icon fonts. The font is awesome.
Remove Duplicate JavaScript and CSS
The size of the files is reduced by removing duplicate code, resulting in better performance.
A Minimalistic Style Framework
The styling framework should help you with your system's performance as it has been optimized for performance.
How To Measure Software Performance
When we discuss performance in the application development world, we are most often referring to speed. Faster-loading pages provide a better user experience. It is so important that Google includes load speed in its ranking algorithm. Although it's acceptable to relax standards for internal enterprise applications that depend on database queries at the back end, speed is still important.
The standard guidelines for response times for computers have not changed in nearly a half-decade, despite the fact that systems are more powerful and internet speeds have increased.
- 0.1 seconds is the maximum time that can be used to make the user believe that the system reacts instantly. This means that there is no need for any special feedback other than the display of the result.
- A delay of 1.0 seconds will not disrupt the user's flow of thoughts, despite the fact that the user may notice it. Normal delays are less than or equal to 1.0 seconds, and no feedback is required. However, the user loses the sense of being able to operate directly on the data.
- The user should be able to focus on the dialog for no more than 10 seconds. Users will be more likely to do other things while they wait for the computer.
The way the human brain processes visual cues and delays in perception hasn't altered. We can measure software performance by the perceived speed: How fast does an application seem? This is something I will discuss later.
Usability can also have a significant impact on efficiency, in addition to speed. The more user-friendly the software is, the more efficient and quicker the user will be. To measure usability, you can count the steps or time taken by a process before and after it has been optimized. Can optimization reduce the steps? It can make the completion of a task easier. Is information contextually relevant?
Web Application Performance Monitoring Tools
It's not like driving a car. You can't just set it and forget about it when it comes to mission-critical apps. Even if an application is working well now, that doesn't mean it will continue to work optimally in the future. Even the most optimized platforms will accumulate technical debt due to regular use and the maintenance needed to keep them updated and secure.
A best practice in software optimization is to implement systems that help you identify and troubleshoot possible problems. Azure Monitor, a tool for monitoring application performance in real-time and proactive mode, can help reduce the workload of DevOps and development teams by detecting common issues like server overload or downtime. These tools alert teams to thresholds that have been exceeded, giving them the time they need to respond and troubleshoot before things become critical.
Seq, for example, offers error logging that allows teams to dig deeper to identify specific user interactions and pinpoint where the problems may be. This is especially true for mission-critical applications where greater transparency and insight are required.
It's also important that teams adopt best practices, such as periodic system reviews. By putting in the time to pay down technical debt, you can avoid hotspots before they become a problem. Routine maintenance and proactive addressing of issues can translate to less work and lower costs in the long run. Optimization could, for example, involve refactoring specific pieces of code.
How To Optimize The Performance Of A Web Application
There are a few additional best practices that you can adopt to increase software performance.
Research the extent of your problem. We often get prospective clients who think they need a completely new application, but in reality, they only need some tweaks.
It's not always obvious what's happening under the hood. The problem could be caused by problems with the database or the architecture. The application may need to update the code on the backend that accesses and queries the data. This could be due to poorly written JavaScript or a rendering issue on the browser.
It may seem expensive to work with a partner or interdisciplinary team that has experts in multiple areas, but you can save money over time. The jack-of-all-trades who has only a cursory understanding of your tech stack may end up creating more problems than it fixes and will likely try to convince you of solutions you don't really need. A team of specialists can triage problems. They can explain which optimizations will have the most impact on your business and which ones you should wait for.
No matter what the reason, optimizing application performance could have a positive impact on your business.
Why Performance Of Applications Matters
Imagine a call center for a company where customers can phone in and get help. How often have you heard a service representative frantically typing at the keyboard while apologizing that the system was slow and having difficulty retrieving the information needed to answer your concern or question?
In nearly all industries, mission-critical software is used by companies and their employees in -based roles. This software is almost always open and is where the most important business processes take place. When an application that is so important performs inefficiently, users begin to feel the impact. The user may find it difficult to stay focused on the task. They may miss out on the chance to use the information in situations that are time-sensitive, such as the example of customer service above.
Poor performance in customer-facing software can cause even more serious problems. The software frustrates and irritates your customers instead of assisting them to do business with you and giving your company a competitive edge. The customer may try to reload the page, which can cause more delays and problems for the application.
App performance can have a direct impact on company metrics such as employee productivity and performance. This impact can easily be extended to key operational goals across departments, such as revenue and customer satisfaction. This can lead to a loss of customers. Add to this the costs of expensive workarounds to fix an application that crashes constantly or the risk that every business process will grind to a stop to fix a critical mistake.
Performance is no longer an option but a necessity for businesses that rely on customized applications.
Concentrating on improving performance will benefit your business in all these areas. What are some ways to evaluate and measure software performance in order to determine where you should focus your efforts?
How To Optimize The Performance Of A Web Application
There are additional best practices that you can adopt to improve the performance of your software.
Research The Extent Of Your Problem
We often get prospective clients who think they need a completely new application, but in reality, they only need some tweaks.
It's not always obvious what's happening under the hood. The problem could be caused by problems with the database or the architecture. The application may need to update the code on the backend that accesses and queries the data. This could be due to poorly written JavaScript or a rendering issue on the browser.
It may seem expensive to work with a partner or interdisciplinary team that has experts in multiple areas, but you can save money over time. The jack-of-all-trades who has only a cursory understanding of your tech stack may end up creating more problems than it fixes and will likely try to convince you of solutions you don't really need. A team of specialists can triage problems. They can explain which optimizations will have the most impact on your business and which ones you should wait for.
Adopt Standards And Best Practices For Code
The best web applications of today are lightweight, fast, and flexible. You'll want as many upgrades and optimizations to future-proof your application. It's impossible to avoid technical debt. The same goes for auto maintenance. With application modernization, the app development process can be structured in a way that future improvements will be more modular. Changing a tire does not mean disassembling the entire car.
When It Comes To Infrastructure And Hardware, Make Smart Choices
It is crucial to choose the right infrastructure. You want to avoid crashes and lags by being able to handle surges of usage. It's a mistake to think that upgrading your hardware will solve all problems. Paying for infrastructure you don't use is an expensive gamble. Find flexible solutions such as elastic cloud infrastructure, like Azure elastic cloud and AWS elasticity services. These can be paid as you go while anticipating and responding quickly to unexpected usage.
Optimize Your UX
The user interface and user experience field is a hot topic in design and development and with good reason. UX optimizations have many ways to impact perceived time by using visual and psychological cues. Here are some examples of successful program optimization techniques.
To indicate progress, use percentages and progress bars. These interface cues can help users manage delays and set expectations, even if the bulk of the work is done in the background.
Progressive page loads. Techniques like lazy loading display only the top portion of the page rather than waiting for the entire page to load. It gives the user something to see and consume while the page works. In most cases, the rest of the web page will be ready to display by the time the user scrolls down.
The Budget And Roadmap Should Include Optimization
We see a lot of companies that don't follow through with their software optimization efforts. This is often because they underestimate the impact of technical debt or aging software. Nobody knows the quality of their auto insurance until they actually need it.
The discipline you have to maintain in your system is the best practice. It means that you must allocate funds in your budget and time in your schedule and roadmap. Your optimization strategy and your most important business activities will be reactive without this commitment.
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Conclusion
Cisin has been helping businesses solve problems for more than 20 years with top-quality software. Learn more about our custom software development services or our application modernization service.
