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'\"
'\" Copyright (c) 2005 Sergey Brester aka sebres.
'\"
'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
'\"
.TH timerate n "" Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands"
.so man.macros
.BS
'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
timerate \- Time-related execution resp. performance measurement of a script
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBtimerate \fIscript\fR \fI?time?\fR
.sp
\fBtimerate \fI?-direct?\fR \fI?-overhead double?\fR \fIscript\fR \fI?time?\fR
.sp
\fBtimerate \fI?-calibrate?\fR \fI?-direct?\fR \fIscript\fR \fI?time?\fR
.BE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
The first and second form will evaluate \fIscript\fR until the interval
\fItime\fR given in milliseconds elapses, or for 1000 milliseconds (1 second)
if \fItime\fR is not specified. 
.sp
It will then return a canonical tcl-list of the form
.PP
.CS
\f0.095977 µs/# 52095836 # 10419167 #/sec 5000.000 nett-ms\fR
.CE
.PP
which indicates:
.IP \(bu
the average amount of time required per iteration, in microseconds (lindex $result 0)
.IP \(bu
the count how many times it was executed (lindex $result 2)
.IP \(bu
the estimated rate per second (lindex $result 4)
.IP \(bu
the estimated real execution time without measurement overhead (lindex $result 6)
.PP
Time is measured in elapsed time using heighest timer resolution as possible, not CPU time.
This command may be used to provide information as to how well the script or a tcl-command 
is performing and can help determine bottlenecks and fine-tune application performance.
.PP
\fI-calibrate\fR
.
To measure very fast scripts as exact as posible the calibration process
may be required.

This parameter used to calibrate \fBtimerate\fR calculating the estimated overhead 
of given \fIscript\fR as default overhead for further execution of \fBtimerate\fR.
It can take up to 10 seconds if parameter \fItime\fR is not specified.
.PP
\fI-overhead double\fR
.
This parameter used to supply the measurement overhead of single iteration 
(in microseconds) that should be ignored during whole evaluation process.
.PP
\fI-direct\fR
.
Causes direct execution per iteration (not compiled variant of evaluation used).
.PP
In opposition to \fBtime\fR the execution limited here by fixed time instead of 
repetition count.
Additionally the compiled variant of the script will be used during whole evaluation 
(as if it were part of a compiled \fBproc\fR), if parameter \fI-direct\fR is not specified.
Therefore it provides more precise results and prevents very long execution time 
by slow scripts resp. scripts with unknown speed.

.SH EXAMPLE
Estimate how fast it takes for a simple Tcl \fBfor\fR loop (including
operations on variable \fIi\fR) to count to a ten:
.PP
.CS
# calibrate:
timerate -calibrate {}
# measure:
timerate { for {set i 0} {$i<10} {incr i} {} } 5000
.CE
.PP
Estimate how fast it takes for a simple Tcl \fBfor\fR loop only (ignoring the 
overhead for operations on variable \fIi\fR) to count to a ten:
.PP
.CS
# calibrate for overhead of variable operations:
set i 0; timerate -calibrate {expr {$i<10}; incr i} 1000
# measure:
timerate { for {set i 0} {$i<10} {incr i} {} } 5000
.CE
.PP
Estimate the rate of calculating the hour using \fBclock format\fR only, ignoring 
overhead of the rest, without measurement how fast it takes for a whole script:
.PP
.CS
# calibrate:
timerate -calibrate {}
# estimate overhead:
set tm 0
set ovh [lindex [timerate { incr tm [expr {24*60*60}] }] 0]
# measure using esimated overhead:
set tm 0
timerate -overhead $ovh {
    clock format $tm -format %H
    incr tm [expr {24*60*60}]; # overhead for this is ignored
} 5000
.CE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
time(n)
.SH KEYWORDS
script, timerate, time
.\" Local Variables:
.\" mode: nroff
.\" End: