[Python-ideas] time.wallclock() or other similar stuff

[MRAB]

On 02/11/2010 03:38, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 9:50 PM, Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info>
>> wrote:
>> ..
>>> The timeit module includes:
>>>
>>> if sys.platform == "win32":
>>> # On Windows, the best timer is time.clock()
>>> default_timer = time.clock
>>> else:
>>> # On most other platforms the best timer is time.time()
>>> default_timer = time.time
>>>
>>
>> Doesn't this mean that the requested functionality is already
>> available as
>>
>> from timeit import default_timer
>>
>> ?
>
>
> Well, yes, it does, but:
>
> (1) How many people would think to look in timeit for this function?
> Both you and Kristján were apparently surprised that it already exists,
> and I'd bet money that you weren't the only ones. timeit seems to be
> more of an application than a library (although I acknowledge the border
> between the two is fuzzy), and people don't think about using it as a
> library.
>
> (2) The time module is the natural place to look for time-related
> functions. It would be nicer if timeit could import the default timer
> from time:
>
> from time import timer as default_timer # or wall_clock if you prefer
>
> (3) The default_timer is an implementation detail of timeit. It could
> change, or disappear, or be renamed. You'll note it isn't documented:
>
> http://docs.python.org/library/timeit.html
>
> (4) I started off thinking that we should just document timer
> (wall_clock) as an alias to one of time() or clock(), but I changed my
> mind. That's an implementation detail that we should be free to change
> in the future. For the sake of information hiding, we shouldn't promise
> that the timer will be one of time.clock() or time.time(). Who knows,
> maybe there are (or will be someday) supported platforms where neither
> choice is appropriate, and the timer needs to be something else?
>
+1