Visual C++ Stopwatch

Question

I wonder what is the best way to measure the execution time of some code in C++. Is there any built in Stopwatch (.Net) alike class? I am developing C++ on VS2010. How (if) can i use the .Net libraries inside my C++ project?? Thank you In advance.

Answer 1

AFAIK C++ hasn't got an standard class like the Stopwatch in .NET.

http://cplus.about.com/od/howtodothingsi2/a/timing.htm is an example for a high resolution timer on the windows platform.

A platform independent implementation for such timers is: http://www.boost.org/libs/timer/doc/index.html

HTH

Answer 2

You might consider http://code.google.com/p/cpp-stopwatch, it's in plain C++, no dependencies and comes with a handy Visual Studio solution. Oh, and I wrote it.

Answer 3

You can use QueryPerformanceCounter to get a better timing when "profiling" some code (it's not perfect, but should be enough to get you starter).

BOOL WINAPI QueryPerformanceCounter( __out  LARGE_INTEGER *lpPerformanceCount );

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms644904(v=vs.85).aspx.