Abstract: The present invention utilizes link time code modification to instrument the code which is to be executed, typically comprising plurality of kernel operations and user programs. When the code is instrumented, wherever a data memory reference appears, the linker inserts a very short stylized subroutine call to a routine that logs the reference in a large, trace buffer. The same call is inserted at the beginning of each basic block to record instruction references. When the trace buffer fills up with recorded memory references, the contents of the buffer are processed, either by dumping the contents to an output device emptying the trace buffer, or a cache simulation routine is run to analyze the data. The results of the analysis are stored rather than storing the entire results of the tracing program.