How does coverage (Devel::Cover) affect performance or memory usage?

When using Devel::Cover, the coverage tool for Perl, it's important to consider its impact on the performance and memory usage of your scripts. Devel::Cover works by instrumenting your code to track which lines have been executed, which can lead to a noticeable increase in execution time and memory consumption. This overhead can be especially pronounced in large codebases or when running extensive test suites.

For example, if you run your test suite with Devel::Cover enabled, you'll notice that the time taken to execute tests may increase significantly, as each line of code must be monitored. Additionally, memory usage can rise due to the additional data structures created to store coverage information.

However, the benefits of using Devel::Cover often outweigh these performance costs, as it provides invaluable insights into code coverage and helps identify untested areas of your application.

Example of running Devel::Cover:

<![CDATA[ # Run your test suite with coverage PERL5OPT=-MDevel::Cover prove -v t/ ]]>

Devel::Cover Perl coverage performance memory usage testing code coverage software quality