[boost] [system][timer] CPU timer first draft

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-06-25 10:00:46

After years of procrastination, I've finally put together the CPU timer 
I've always wanted. It provides wall-clock time, user CPU time, and 
system CPU time. A time reporter class handles the details of display. 
Typical output would be:

   wall 0.50 s, user 0.03 s, system 0.05 s, total cpu 0.08 s, 15.6%

The percentage is CPU utilization relative to wall clock.

Note that I see a CPU timer as complementary rather than competitive to 
the high-precision timer component others are working on. I'm all for 
their effort to continue.

My plan is to submit the CPU timer stuff as part of a Boost.System 
library, which packages small operating system dependent components 
together for convenience.

There is an early version of Boost.System stuff in the vault. Go to the 
System directory at http://boost-consulting.com/vault/ to download 
system-0.1.zip.

The preliminary CPU timer docs can be viewed online at 
http://mysite.verizon.net/beman/cpu_timer.html.

Note that I did use Boost.Date_Time components. That was because I'm not 
very familiar with Boost.Date_Time, and wanted to initially concentrate 
on getting the desired results. Advice on how to best make use of 
Boost.Date_Time would be appreciated.

Likewise, any other comments are welcome.

--Beman