Is my method of measuring running time flawed?

Question

Sorry, it\'s a long one, but I\'m just explaining my train of thought as I analyze this. Questions at the end.

I have an understanding of what goes into measuring runni

Answer 1

Depending on what the running time of the code you're testing is, it's quite difficult to measure the individual runs. If the runtime of the code your testing is multiple seconds, your approach of timing the specific run will most likely not be a problem. If it's in the vicinity of milliseconds, your results will probably very too much. If you e.g. have a context switch or a read from the swap file at the wrong moment, the runtime of that run will be disproportionate to the average runtime.