How to Measure Execution Time of a Program

In addition to simple technical performance, such as looking closely at RAM and CPU, it is useful to monitor the execution time of a certain task. Tasks such as increasing sorting of a set of values can take a long time depending on the algorithm used.

Before delving into optimizing an algorithm, it is useful to understand how to measure the execution time of a program. In this article, I will first introduce the concept of time and then we will explore some beginner techniques for making simplistic measurements ― on the order of microseconds.

Measuring the execution time of a compiled or run-time program is more difficult than you might think, since many methods are often not transferable to other platforms. Choosing the right method will depend on your operating system, programming language, and even what is meant by “time”.

It is important to both define and differentiate between the two terms, Wall Time and CPU Time, that are often used when measuring runtime.

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