How to Achieve High-Precision Timing in C on Linux?

High-Precision Timing in C on Linux

QueryPerformanceCounter from mmsystem.h provides a reliable high-resolution timer in Windows. For Linux, consider the following alternatives:

• Boost ptime: A Boost library function that returns nanosecond-precision timestamps.
• POSIX clock_gettime(): A system call that provides timestamps with varying precision based on the specified clock type. For example, CLOCK_MONOTONIC provides a high-resolution, monotonically increasing timestamp.

Code Example Using ptime:

#include <iostream>
#include <boost/chrono/system_clocks.hpp>

using namespace std;
using namespace boost::chrono;

int main() {
  auto now = system_clock::now();
  nanoseconds ts = duration_cast<nanoseconds>(now - system_clock::from_time_t(0));
  
  cout << "Timestamp: " << ts.count() << " nanoseconds" << endl;
  
  return 0;
}

Code Example Using clock_gettime():

#include <iostream>
#include <time.h>

using namespace std;

int main() {
  timespec ts;
  
  clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &ts);
  
  cout << "Timestamp: " << ts.tv_sec << " seconds, "
       << ts.tv_nsec << " nanoseconds" << endl;
  
  return 0;
}

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