Re 2, the work per instruction doesn't matter if you compare the same program/program execution, in practice you will get an estimated of the resident set size over the amount of work.
All your other points do stand and that's what I mean with 'is very machine dependent'. And yes, if you want to isolate fully the effect of instruction density an emulator might be the only solution. Still I think that profiling counters can get you 90% there.
All your other points do stand and that's what I mean with 'is very machine dependent'. And yes, if you want to isolate fully the effect of instruction density an emulator might be the only solution. Still I think that profiling counters can get you 90% there.