C++ Cross-Platform High-Resolution Timer

Question

I\'m looking to implement a simple timer mechanism in C++. The code should work in Windows and Linux. The resolution should be as precise as possible (at least millisecond a

Answer 1

I found this which looks promising, and is extremely straightforward, not sure if there are any drawbacks:

https://gist.github.com/ForeverZer0/0a4f80fc02b96e19380ebb7a3debbee5

/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- */
/*
Easy embeddable cross-platform high resolution timer function. For each 
platform we select the high resolution timer. You can call the 'ns()' 
function in your file after embedding this. 
*/
#include <stdint.h>
#if defined(__linux)
#  define HAVE_POSIX_TIMER
#  include <time.h>
#  ifdef CLOCK_MONOTONIC
#     define CLOCKID CLOCK_MONOTONIC
#  else
#     define CLOCKID CLOCK_REALTIME
#  endif
#elif defined(__APPLE__)
#  define HAVE_MACH_TIMER
#  include <mach/mach_time.h>
#elif defined(_WIN32)
#  define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
#  include <windows.h>
#endif
static uint64_t ns() {
static uint64_t is_init = 0;
#if defined(__APPLE__)
    static mach_timebase_info_data_t info;
    if (0 == is_init) {
        mach_timebase_info(&info);
        is_init = 1;
    }
    uint64_t now;
    now = mach_absolute_time();
    now *= info.numer;
    now /= info.denom;
    return now;
#elif defined(__linux)
    static struct timespec linux_rate;
    if (0 == is_init) {
        clock_getres(CLOCKID, &linux_rate);
        is_init = 1;
    }
    uint64_t now;
    struct timespec spec;
    clock_gettime(CLOCKID, &spec);
    now = spec.tv_sec * 1.0e9 + spec.tv_nsec;
    return now;
#elif defined(_WIN32)
    static LARGE_INTEGER win_frequency;
    if (0 == is_init) {
        QueryPerformanceFrequency(&win_frequency);
        is_init = 1;
    }
    LARGE_INTEGER now;
    QueryPerformanceCounter(&now);
    return (uint64_t) ((1e9 * now.QuadPart)  / win_frequency.QuadPart);
#endif
}
/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- */-------------------------------- */

Answer 2

The StlSoft open source library provides a quite good timer on both windows and linux platforms. If you want it to implement on your own, just have a look at their sources.

Answer 3

I am not sure about your requirement, If you want to calculate time interval please see thread below

Calculating elapsed time in a C program in milliseconds

Answer 4

STLSoft have a Performance Library, which includes a set of timer classes, some that work for both UNIX and Windows.

Answer 5

I highly recommend boost::posix_time library for that. It supports timers in various resolutions down to microseconds I believe

Answer 6

If one is using the Qt framework in the project, the best solution is probably to use QElapsedTimer.