14.20 The timing Module

(Obsolete, Unix only) The timing module can be used to time the execution of a Python program. Example 14-25 demonstrates.

Example 14-25. Using the timing Module

File: timing-example-1.py

import timing
import time

def procedure():
    time.sleep(1.234)

timing.start()
procedure()
timing.finish()

print "seconds:", timing.seconds()
print "milliseconds:", timing.milli()
print "microseconds:", timing.micro()

seconds: 1
milliseconds: 1239
microseconds: 1239999

The script in Example 14-26 shows how you can emulate this module using functions in the standard time module.

Example 14-26. Emulating the timing Module

File: timing-example-2.py

import time

t0 = t1 = 0

def start():
    global t0
    t0 = time.time()


def finish():
    global t1
    t1 = time.time()

def seconds():
    return int(t1 - t0)

def milli():
    return int((t1 - t0) * 1000)

def micro():
    return int((t1 - t0) * 1000000)

You can use time.clock() instead of time.time() to get CPU time, where supported.