add documentation

pvlib · wholmgren · Sep 10, 2020 · Aug 13, 2018 · Aug 14, 2018 · Mar 22, 2020
commit d53b782e42aa630a1fa8423052a9638b87e3e384
diff --git a/asv_bench/README.md b/asv_bench/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+Benchmarks
+==========
+
+pvlib includes a small number of performance benchmarking tests. These
+tests are run using
+[airspeed velocity](https://asv.readthedocs.io/en/stable/) (ASV).
+
+The basic structure of the tests and how to run them is described below.
+We refer readers to the ASV documentation for more details.
+
+The test configuration is described in
+[``asv.conf.json``](asv.conf.json).
+
+The performance tests are located in the [benchmarks](benchmarks) directory.
+
+First, from this directory, run the tests:
+
+```
+asv run
+```
+
+Note that, unlike pytest, the asv tests require changes to be committed
+to git before they can be tested. The ``run`` command takes a positional
+argument to describe the range of git commits or branches to be tested.
+For example, if your feature branch is named ``feature``, a useful asv
+run may be:
+
+```
+asv run master..feature
+```
+
+Next, publish the test results to the archive:
+
+```
+asv publish
 ```
+
+Finally, start a http server to view the test results:
+
+```
+asv preview
+```
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/contributing.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/contributing.rst
@@ -404,6 +404,17 @@ PVSystem method is called through ``ModelChain.run_model``.
         assert isinstance(mc.dc, (pd.Series, pd.DataFrame))
 
 
+Benchmarking
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+pvlib includes a small number of performance benchmarking tests. These
+tests are run using the `airspeed velocity
+<https://asv.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`_ tool. We do not require new
+performance tests for most contributions at this time. Pull request
+reviewers will provide further information if a performance test is
+necessary.
+
+
 This documentation
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~