How can I determine the amount of time a set of operations in C# require to execute ?

Question

Hi,

Is there a high precision timer that I can use to benchmark the amount of time a series of operations/statements take when executing ? A timer that returns the number of seconds since epoch would be insufficient, as the resolution is in seconds.

I am thinking that the general implementation would be:

1. Get starting time in milliseconds.
2. Execute statements.
3. Get ending time in milliseconds.
4. Elapsed time = end - start.

Thanks,

Scott

Answer 1

You might use a Stopwatch object for that, it has Start and Stop methods. However, note that it measure total time, not net time, which might be affected by the load on your system. To get net time you need to use some specialized profiling tools.

Answer 2

The Stopwatch class works well for this. Note that it measures wall clock time, not code execution time.

    Stopwatch sw= new Stopwatch();
    sw.Start();
    DoTimeConsumingOperation();
    sw.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine(sw.Elapsed); // in milliseconds

The Stopwatch measures elapsed time by counting timer ticks in the underlying timer mechanism. If the installed hardware and operating system support a high-resolution performance counter, then the Stopwatch class uses that counter to measure elapsed time. Otherwise, the Stopwatch class uses the system timer to measure elapsed time. Use the Frequency and IsHighResolution fields to determine the precision and resolution of the Stopwatch timing implementation.