CPU times and clock ticks

[ActionMan]

hey all,

im trying to time a system call.

I want to use/ understand the times() function. but it doesnt seem to work.

both calls to the times() function return the same value. It must have something to do with the values im passing in but i dont know how...

possibly b/c they're not inititlised?

how do i initialise them?


<CODE>
#include <sys/times.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int main()
{
clock_t start, end;
struct tms buffer[4];
double difference;
int i;

start = times(buffer); /*num of clocks time */

for(i=0; i<1000; i++) /* time 100 times */
{
getpid();
}

end = (clock_t) times(buffer);
/* num of clocks time*/

/*end-start, divided by number of clocks a sec */
difference = (double) (end - start ) / sysconf(_SC_CLK_TCK);


difference = difference /1000;
/*repeated 1000 times */

printf("time taken: %llf\n", (difference));

return 1;

}
</CODE>

can anyone help me?

cheers,

[Salem]

1. <> are not code tags, use []

2. You're using the same buffer for both times, try

start = times( &buffer[0] ); /*num of clocks time */ 
for(i=0; i<1000; i++) /* time 100 times */ 
{ 
    getpid(); 
} 
end = times( &buffer[1] );

3. maybe your code is so quick that no apparent time has passed. If clock is only updated at say 10 times a second, your program can run for 100mS before you'd be able to measure anything.

[Unregistered]

hey,
thanks, yeah i tested it and it does take a while to refresh times. (not as accurate as gethrtime).

I think that you're ment to pass in the same buffer each time.

just trying to understand why :-)

cheers,

[stautze]

this is the function I've been using for a while...

float Time(int flag)
{
    static clock_t start;
    clock_t end;

    if (flag == START) {
        start = clock();
        return 0.0;
    } else {
        end = clock();
        return (end - start) / CLK_TCK;
    }