strace Wow Much Syscall
strace is the system call tracer for Linux. It currently uses the arcane ptrace() (process trace) debugging interface, which operates in a violent manner: pausing the target process for each syscall so that the debugger can read state. And doing this twice: when the syscall begins, and when it ends.
This means strace pauses your application twice for each syscall, and context-switches each time between the application and strace. It's like putting traffic metering lights on your application