Timer for Python game

Question

I\'m trying to create a simple game where the point is to collect as many blocks as you can in a certain amount of time, say 10 seconds. How can I get a timer to begin ticking a

Answer 1

1. Asks you when to stop [seconds]
2. Adds '0' at starting [1-9]

import time
import sys

stop = int(input('> '))
second = 0
print('> Stopwatch Started.')

while stop > second:
    if second < 9:
        second = second + 1
        time.sleep(1)
        sys.stdout.write('\r> ' + '0' + str(second))
    else:
        second += 1
        time.sleep(1)
        sys.stdout.write('\r' + '> ' + str(second))

print('\n> Stopwatch Stopped.')

Answer 2

This is the Shortest Way I know of doing it:

def stopWatch():
        import time
        a = 0
        hours = 0
        while a < 1:
            for minutes in range(0, 60):
                for seconds in range(0, 60):
                    time.sleep(1)
                    print(hours,":", minutes,":", seconds)
        hours = hours + 1

Answer 3

Using time.time()/datetime.datetime.now() will break if the system time is changed (the user changes the time, it is corrected by a timesyncing services such as NTP or switching from/to dayligt saving time!).

time.monotonic() or time.perf_counter() seems to be the correct way to go, however they are only available from python 3.3. Another possibility is using threading.Timer. Whether or not this is more reliable than time.time() and friends depends on the internal implementation. Also note that creating a new thread is not completely free in terms of system resources, so this might be a bad choice in cases where a lot of timers has to be run in parallel.

Answer 4

As a learning exercise for myself, I created a class to be able to create several stopwatch timer instances that you might find useful (I'm sure there are better/simpler versions around in the time modules or similar)

import time as tm
class Watch:
    count = 0
    description = "Stopwatch class object (default description)"
    author = "Author not yet set"
    name = "not defined"
    instances = []
    def __init__(self,name="not defined"):
        self.name = name
        self.elapsed = 0.
        self.mode = 'init'
        self.starttime = 0.
        self.created = tm.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", tm.gmtime())
        Watch.count += 1

    def __call__(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            return tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            return self.elapsed
        else:
            return 0.

    def display(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            pass
        else:
            pass
        print "Name:       ", self.name
        print "Address:    ", self
        print "Created:    ", self.created
        print "Start-time: ", self.starttime
        print "Mode:       ", self.mode
        print "Elapsed:    ", self.elapsed
        print "Description:", self.description
        print "Author:     ", self.author

    def start(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.starttime = tm.time()
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.starttime = tm.time()
            self.mode = 'running'
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            self.mode = 'running'
            #self.elapsed = self.elapsed + tm.time() - self.starttime
            self.starttime = tm.time() - self.elapsed
        else:
            pass
        return

    def stop(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.mode = 'stopped'
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.mode = 'stopped'
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            pass
        else:
            pass
        return self.elapsed

    def lap(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            pass
        else:
            pass
        return self.elapsed

    def reset(self):
        self.starttime=0.
        self.elapsed=0.
        self.mode='init'
        return self.elapsed

def WatchList():
    return [i for i,j in zip(globals().keys(),globals().values()) if '__main__.Watch instance' in str(j)]