The precision depends on that of the c function of the same name but in any case this is the function to use for benchmarking python or timing algorithms.
Python count wall clock time.
Pythom time method clock returns the current processor time as a floating point number expressed in seconds on unix.
A prerequisite before we dive into the difference of measuring time in python is to understand various types of time in the computing world.
The second type of time is called wall clock time which measures the total time to execute a program in a computer.
A clock with the highest available resolution to measure a short duration.
It does include time elapsed during sleep and is system wide.
Return the value in fractional seconds of a performance counter i e.
Time clock method of time module in python is used to get the current processor time as a floating point number expressed in seconds.
To measure time elapsed during program s execution either use time clock or time time functions.
Return the value in fractional seconds of a performance counter i e.
Also note that clock returns different things on different platforms.
A clock with the highest available resolution to measure a short duration.
Python s time library contains a predefined sleep function.
Perf counter function always returns the float value of time in seconds.
Note that different systems will have different accuracy based on their internal clock setup ticks per second.
For the best measure of elapsed time since python 3 3 use time perf counter.
As most of the functions defined in time module call corresponding c library function.
Time clock was removed in python 3 8 because it had platform dependent behavior.
The first type of time is called cpu or execution time which measures how much time a cpu spent on executing a program.
Time module in python provides various time related functions.
But it s generally at least under 20ms.
The duration for which we want to delay the execution is passed as an argument to the sleep function in seconds.
The precision of returned float value depends on the called c library function.
This function in combination with a loop serves as the python countdown timer.
The python docs state that this function should be used for benchmarking purposes.
On unix return the current processor time as a floating point number expressed in seconds.
It does include time elapsed during sleep and is system wide.