[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Feb 5, 2:37 am, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > I am trying to measure the time the processor spends on some > > operation, and I want this measure to not depend on the current load > > of the machine. > > One of the best ways to time small snippets of code is python's timeit > module. See the docs at > http://docs.python.org/lib/module-timeit.html
Timeit is very cool, but it doesn't measure CPU time, it measure real time, eg on a linux box $ python -m timeit 'for i in xrange(100000): pass' 100 loops, best of 3: 11.4 msec per loop Now run 10 copies of the same program at once $ for i in `seq 10` ; do python -m timeit 'for i in xrange(100000): pass' & done 10 loops, best of 3: 24.4 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 83.2 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 83.4 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 81.4 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 83 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 60.7 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 47 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 48.6 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 42.3 msec per loop 10 loops, best of 3: 38.7 msec per loop > > Is there a way to measure the number of cpu cycles spent on my program > > alone irrespective of the current load etc of the machine. The most accurate way of measuring CPU usage under linux is getrusage, eg >>> import resource >>> def cpu_time(): ... return resource.getrusage(resource.RUSAGE_SELF)[0] ... Now try this out >>> def f(): ... for i in xrange(100000): ... pass ... >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.008001 >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.012001 >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.012 >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.012001 >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.016001 >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.012001 >>> start = cpu_time(); f(); dt = cpu_time() - start; print dt 0.008001 You'll see the result is quantised to 4 ms (not sure what the .000001 bits are about!) 4ms is the clock rate of this machine, ie 250 Hz. This is a compile time option for the linux kernel and is usually set in the range 100 Hz to 1000 Hz. The kernel doesn't measure CPU usage more accurately than this. -- Nick Craig-Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- http://www.craig-wood.com/nick -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list