question on timing results

Matthew Miller mattdm at mattdm.org
Wed Jun 8 14:18:34 UTC 2005


On Wed, Jun 08, 2005 at 06:40:34AM -0700, Globe Trotter wrote:
> utilization. Unless I misunderstood the documentation, clock() provides
> the processor time and so the difference between clock() at the beginning
> of the call to an algorithm and the end would provide me with the CPU time
> elapsed. However, if for some reason the processor was running at 75% or
> whatever, my reported time would be affected, and hence there would not
> really be a fair comparison. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions as to
> how I may settle this issue?

clock() returns an approximation of the CPU time used by the actual process,
so while load from other programs is a factor (particularly since it'll make
your program wait for IO, etc.) it should do basically what you want.

-- 
Matthew Miller           mattdm at mattdm.org        <http://www.mattdm.org/>
Boston University Linux      ------>                <http://linux.bu.edu/>
Current office temperature: 79 degrees Fahrenheit.




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