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The bf(C) programming language offers tools like bf(sleep)(3) and
bf(select)(2) to suspend program execution for a certain amount of time. And
of course the family of bf(time)(3) functions for setting and displaying time
tt(Sleep) and tt(select) can be used for waiting, but as they were designed in
an era when multi threading was unavailable, their usefulness is
limited when used in multi threaded programs. Multi threading has become part
of bf(C++) (covered in detail in chapter ref(THREADING)), and additional
time-related functions are available in the tt(std::filesystem) namespace,
covered below in this chapter.
In multi threaded programs threads are frequently suspended, albeit usually
for a very short time. E.g., when a thread wants to access a variable, but the
variable is currently being updated by another thread, then the former thread
should wait until the latter thread has completed the update. Updating a
variable usually doesn't take much time, but if it takes an unexpectedly long
time, then the former thread may want to be informed about that, so it can do
something else while the latter thread is busy updating the
variable. Interactions between threads like these cannot be realized with
functions like tt(sleep) and tt(select).
The hi(chrono)tt(std::chrono) namespace bridges the gap between the
traditionally available time-related functions and the time-related
requirements of multi-threading and of the tt(std::filesystem) name
space. All but the specific tt(std::filesystem) related time functionality is
available after including the tthi(chrono) header file. After including the
tthi(filesystem) header file the facilities of the tt(std::filesystem) are
available.
Time can be measured in various resolutions: in Olympic games time differences
of hundreds of seconds may make the distinction between a gold and silver
medal, but when planning a vacation we might talk about months before we go on
vacation. Time resolutions are specified through objects of the class
tt(std::ratio), which (apart from including the tt(<chrono>) header file) is
also available after including the tt(<ratio>) header file.
Different events usually last for different amounts of time (given a specific
time resolution). Amounts of time are specified through objects of
the class tt(std::chrono::duration).
Events can also be characterized by their points in time: midnight, January 1,
1970 GMT is a point in time, as is 19:00, December 5, 2010. Points in time are
specified through objects of the class tt(std::chrono::time_point).
It's not just that resolutions, durations of events, and points in time of
events may differ, but the devices (clocks) we use for specifying time also
differ. In the old days em(hour glasses) were used (and sometimes they're
still used when boiling eggs), but on the other hand we may use atomic clocks
when measurements should be very precise. Four different types of clocks are
available. The commonly used clock is tt(std::chrono::system_clock), but in
the context of the file system there's also an (implicitly defined)
tt(filesystem::__file_clock).
In the upcoming sections the details of the tt(std::chrono) namespace are
covered. First we look at characteristics of time resolutions. How to
handle amounts of time given their resolutions is covered next. The next
section describes facilities for defining and handling time-points. The
relationships between these types and the various clock-types are covered
thereafter.
In this chapter the specification tt(std::chrono::) is often omitted (in
practice tt(using namespace std) followed by tt(using namespace chrono) is
commonly used; tt([std::]chrono::) specifications are occasionally used to
avoid ambiguities). Also, every now and then you'll encounter em(forward
references) to later chapters, like the reference to the chapter about
multi-threading. These are hard to avoid, but studying those chapters
at this point fortunately can be postponed without loss of continuity.
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