[Python-Dev] [RFC] PEP 418: Add monotonic time, performance counter and process time functions
Steven D'Aprano
steve at pearwood.info
Sat Apr 28 02:50:37 CEST 2012
Some issues with the PEP 418:
1) time.clock is deprecated, but also supported by get_clock_info. Why bother
supporting it if you don't want people to use it?
2) get_clock_info returns a dict. Why not a namedtuple?
3) The dict returned by get_clock_info includes an optional key,
"is_adjusted". Why is it optional?
4) The section on mach_absolute_time states:
According to the documentation (Technical Q&A QA1398), mach_timebase_info()
is always equal to one and never fails, even if the function may fail
according to its prototype.
I've read the linked technical note and I can't see anything about it always
being equal to one. I don't think your description is accurate.
5) In the glossary, you mark some terms in angle brackets <> but there is no
definition for them:
<nanosecond>
<strictly monotonic>
<clock monotonic> (which I think should be <monotonic clock> instead)
6) A stylistic suggestion: the glossary entries for Accuracy and Precision
should each say "Contrast <the other>" and link to the Wikipedia article.
7) There is a mismatch in tenses between "Adjusted" and "Resetting" in the
glossary. Suggest something like this instead:
Adjusted: Reset to the correct time. This may be done either
with a <Step> or by <Slewing>.
8) The glossary defines steady as high stability and "relatively high accuracy
and precision". But surely that is not correct -- a clock that ticks every
once per second (low precision) is still steady.
9) The perf_counter pseudocode seems a bit unusual (unPythonic?) to me. Rather
than checking flags at call-time, could you not use different function
definitions at compile time?
10) The "Alternatives" section should list arguments made for and against the
alternative APIs, not just list them.
Thanks for your excellent work Victor!
--
Steven
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