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Elapsed Real Time
Elapsed real time, real time, wall-clock time, wall time, or walltime is the actual time taken from the start of a computer program to the end. In other words, it is the difference between the time at which a task finishes and the time at which the task started. Wall time is thus different from CPU time, which measures only the time during which the processor is actively working on a certain task. The difference between the two can arise from architecture and run-time dependent factors, e.g. programmed delays or waiting for system resources to become available. Consider the example of a mathematical program that reports that it has used "CPU time 0m0.04s, Wall time 6m6.01s". This means that while the program was active for six minutes and one second, during that time the computer's processor spent only 4/100 of a second performing calculations for the program. Conversely, programs running in parallel on more than one processing unit can spend CPU time many times beyond their el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Program
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangible components. A computer program in its human-readable form is called source code. Source code needs another computer program to Execution (computing), execute because computers can only execute their native machine code, machine instructions. Therefore, source code may be translated to machine instructions using the language's compiler. (Assembly language programs are translated using an Assembly language#Assembler, assembler.) The resulting file is called an executable. Alternatively, source code may execute within the language's interpreter (computing), interpreter. If the executable is requested for execution, then the operating system Loader (computing), loads it into Random-access memory, memory and starts a Process (com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CPU Time
CPU time (or process time) is the amount of time for which a central processing unit (CPU) was used for processing instructions of a computer program or operating system, as opposed to elapsed time, which includes for example, waiting for input/output (I/O) operations or entering low-power (idle) mode. The CPU time is measured in clock ticks or seconds. Often, it is useful to measure CPU time as a percentage of the CPU's capacity, which is called the CPU usage. CPU time and CPU usage have two main uses. The CPU time is used to quantify the overall empirical efficiency of two functionally identical algorithms. For example any sorting algorithm takes an unsorted list and returns a sorted list, and will do so in a deterministic number of steps based for a given input list. However a bubble sort and a merge sort have different running time complexity such that merge sort tends to complete in fewer steps. Without any knowledge of the workings of either algorithm a greater CPU time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Architecture
In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, the description may include the instruction set architecture design, microarchitecture design, logic design, and implementation. History The first documented computer architecture was in the correspondence between Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, describing the analytical engine. When building the computer Z1 in 1936, Konrad Zuse described in two patent applications for his future projects that machine instructions could be stored in the same storage used for data, i.e., the stored-program concept. Two other early and important examples are: * John von Neumann's 1945 paper, First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, which described an organization of logical elements; and *Alan Turing's more detailed ''Proposed Electronic Calculator'' for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Runtime System
In computer programming, a runtime system or runtime environment is a sub-system that exists both in the computer where a program is created, as well as in the computers where the program is intended to be run. The name comes from the compile time and runtime division from compiled languages, which similarly distinguishes the computer processes involved in the creation of a program (compilation) and its execution in the target machine (the run time). Most programming languages have some form of runtime system that provides an environment in which programs run. This environment may address a number of issues including the management of application memory, how the program accesses variables, mechanisms for passing parameters between procedures, interfacing with the operating system, and otherwise. The compiler makes assumptions depending on the specific runtime system to generate correct code. Typically the runtime system will have some responsibility for setting up and managin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleep (operating System)
A computer program ( process, task, or thread) may sleep, which places it into an inactive state for a period of time. Eventually the expiration of an interval timer, or the receipt of a signal or interrupt causes the program to resume execution. Usage A typical ''sleep'' system call takes a time value as a parameter, specifying the minimum amount of time that the process is to sleep before resuming execution. The parameter typically specifies seconds, although some operating systems provide finer resolution, such as milliseconds or microseconds. Windows On Windows, the Sleep() function takes a single parameter of the number of milliseconds to sleep. The Sleep() function is included in kernel32.dll. The function has a resolution no higher than the current timer resolution, typically 16ms but at minimum 1ms, adjustable via the family of "media timer" APIs. For higher precisions, it is necessary to use a busy loop over , such as the one used in gnulib. Unix On Unix-like ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
System Resources
In computing, a system resource, or simple resource, is any physical or virtual component of limited availability within a computer system. All connected devices and internal system components are resources. Virtual system resources include files (concretely file handles), network connections (concretely network sockets), and memory areas. Managing resources is referred to as resource management, and includes both preventing resource leaks (not releasing a resource when a process has finished using it) and dealing with resource contention (when multiple processes wish to access a limited resource). Computing resources are used in cloud computing to provide services through networks. Major resource types * Interrupt request (IRQ) lines * Direct memory access (DMA) channels * Port-mapped I/O * Memory-mapped I/O * Locks * External devices * External memory or objects, such as memory managed in native code, from Java; or objects in the Document Object Model (DOM), from JavaSc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Computing
Parallel computing is a type of computation in which many calculations or processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time. There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level, instruction-level, data, and task parallelism. Parallelism has long been employed in high-performance computing, but has gained broader interest due to the physical constraints preventing frequency scaling.S.V. Adve ''et al.'' (November 2008)"Parallel Computing Research at Illinois: The UPCRC Agenda" (PDF). Parallel@Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "The main techniques for these performance benefits—increased clock frequency and smarter but increasingly complex architectures—are now hitting the so-called power wall. The computer industry has accepted that future performance increases must largely come from increasing the number of processors (or cores) on a die, rather tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concurrent Computing
Concurrent computing is a form of computing in which several computations are executed '' concurrently''—during overlapping time periods—instead of ''sequentially—''with one completing before the next starts. This is a property of a system—whether a program, computer, or a network—where there is a separate execution point or "thread of control" for each process. A ''concurrent system'' is one where a computation can advance without waiting for all other computations to complete. Concurrent computing is a form of modular programming. In its paradigm an overall computation is factored into subcomputations that may be executed concurrently. Pioneers in the field of concurrent computing include Edsger Dijkstra, Per Brinch Hansen, and C.A.R. Hoare. Introduction The concept of concurrent computing is frequently confused with the related but distinct concept of parallel computing, Pike, Rob (2012-01-11). "Concurrency is not Parallelism". ''Waza conference'', 11 Janu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Real-time Computing
Real-time computing (RTC) is the computer science term for hardware and software systems subject to a "real-time constraint", for example from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within specified time constraints, often referred to as "deadlines". Ben-Ari, Mordechai; "Principles of Concurrent and Distributed Programming", ch. 16, Prentice Hall, 1990, , page 164 Real-time responses are often understood to be in the order of milliseconds, and sometimes microseconds. A system not specified as operating in real time cannot usually ''guarantee'' a response within any timeframe, although ''typical'' or ''expected'' response times may be given. Real-time processing ''fails'' if not completed within a specified deadline relative to an event; deadlines must always be met, regardless of system load. A real-time system has been described as one which "controls an environment by receiving data, processing them, and returning the results sufficiently quic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Process (computing)
In computing, a process is the instance of a computer program that is being executed by one or many threads. There are many different process models, some of which are light weight, but almost all processes (even entire virtual machines) are rooted in an operating system (OS) process which comprises the program code, assigned system resources, physical and logical access permissions, and data structures to initiate, control and coordinate execution activity. Depending on the OS, a process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently. While a computer program is a passive collection of instructions typically stored in a file on disk, a process is the execution of those instructions after being loaded from the disk into memory. Several processes may be associated with the same program; for example, opening up several instances of the same program often results in more than one process being executed. Multitasking is a method to allow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
System Time
In computer science and computer programming, system time represents a computer system's notion of the passage of time. In this sense, ''time'' also includes the passing of days on the calendar. System time is measured by a ''system clock'', which is typically implemented as a simple count of the number of ''ticks'' that have transpired since some arbitrary starting date, called the ''epoch''. For example, Unix and POSIX-compliant systems encode system time ("Unix time") as the number of seconds elapsed since the start of the Unix epoch at 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UT, with exceptions for leap seconds. Systems that implement the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Windows API, such as Windows 9x and Windows NT, provide the system time as both , represented as a year/month/day/hour/minute/second/milliseconds value, and , represented as a count of the number of 100-nanosecond ticks since 1 January 1601 00:00:00 UT as reckoned in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. System time can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computing Terminology
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, engineering, mathematical, technological and social aspects. Major computing disciplines include computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, data science, information systems, information technology and software engineering. The term "computing" is also synonymous with counting and calculating. In earlier times, it was used in reference to the action performed by mechanical computing machines, and before that, to human computers. History The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper (or for chalk and slate) with or without the aid of tables. Computing is intimately tied to the representation of numbers, though mathematical concept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
