Method and apparatus for computing user-specified cost metrics in a data space profiler

A system and method for profiling a software application may include means for defining a custom cost metric that includes a cost metric identifier and a cost function. The cost function may apply a mathematical formula to data extracted from an event set to calculate a respective cost metric value for each of one or more events in the event set. The data extracted from the event set may include one or more respective profiling object identifiers and one or more other respective costs associated with each of the one or more events. A cost associated with an event in the event space may be associated with a function or basic block of instructions. The cost function may include a distribution formula for attributing at least a portion of the cost associated with a function or basic block to each of the instructions comprising the function or basic block.