Python timeit problem

Question

I'm trying to use the timeit module but I don't know how. I have a main:

from Foo import Foo
if __name__ == '__main__':
...
   foo = Foo(arg1, arg2) 
   t = Timer("foo.runAlgorithm()")
   print t.timeit(2)

and my Class Foo has a method named as runAlgorithm()

the error is this:

NameError: global name 'foo' is not defined

What am I doing wrong? Can I take the time from a class method?

Answer 1

Instead of using the necessary setup parameter for setting up the timeit environment, you can simply pass the method (or anything that is callable):

t = Timer(foo.runAlgorithm)

From the documentation:

Changed in version 2.6: The stmt and setup parameters can now also take objects that are callable without arguments.

If you need to pass some arguments, you can use function currying with functools.partial, for example:

class C:
    def printargs(self, a, b):
        print a, b

from functools import partial
foo = C()
t = Timer(partial(foo.printargs, 1, 2))

Answer 2

as docs example show you need to pass setup statements:

t = Timer("foo.runAlgorithm()", 'from __main__ import foo')