Stopwatch In Python

Question

I'm trying to create a simple game where the point is to collect as many blocks as you can in a certain amount of time, say 10 seconds. How can I get a stopwatch to begin ticking at the start of the program and when it reaches 10 seconds, do something (in this case, exit a loop)?

Answer 1

I use this function in my python programs. The input for the function is as example:
value = time.time()

def stopWatch(value):
    '''From seconds to Days;Hours:Minutes;Seconds'''

    valueD = (((value/365)/24)/60)
    Days = int (valueD)

    valueH = (valueD-Days)*365
    Hours = int(valueH)

    valueM = (valueH - Hours)*24
    Minutes = int(valueM)

    valueS = (valueM - Minutes)*60
    Seconds = int(valueS)


    print Days,";",Hours,":",Minutes,";",Seconds




start = time.time() # What in other posts is described is

***your code HERE***

end = time.time()         
stopWatch(end-start) #Use then my code

Answer 2

In this example the loop is run every second for ten seconds:

import datetime, time
then = datetime.datetime.now() + datetime.timedelta(seconds=10)
while then > datetime.datetime.now():
    print 'sleeping'
    time.sleep(1)

Answer 3

import time

now = time.time()
future = now + 10
while time.time() < future:
    # do stuff
    pass

Alternatively, if you've already got your loop:

while True:
    if time.time() > future:
        break
    # do other stuff

This method works well with pygame, since it pretty much requires you to have a big main loop.

Answer 4

New to the python world!
I need a System Time independent Stopwatch so I did translate my old C++ class into Python:

from ctypes.wintypes import DWORD
import win32api
import datetime

class Stopwatch:

    def __init__(self):
        self.Restart()

    def Restart(self):
        self.__ulStartTicks = DWORD(win32api.GetTickCount()).value

    def ElapsedMilliSecs(self):
        return DWORD(DWORD(win32api.GetTickCount()).value-DWORD(self.__ulStartTicks).value).value

    def ElapsedTime(self):
        return datetime.timedelta(milliseconds=self.ElapsedMilliSecs())

This has no 49 days run over issue due to DWORD math but NOTICE that GetTickCount has about 15 milliseconds granularity so do not use this class if your need 1-100 milliseconds elapsed time ranges.

Any improvement or feedback is welcome!

Answer 5

As a learning exercise for myself, I created a class to be able to create several stopwatch timer instances that you might find useful (I'm sure there are better/simpler versions around in the time modules or similar)

import time as tm
class Watch:
    count = 0
    description = "Stopwatch class object (default description)"
    author = "Author not yet set"
    name = "not defined"
    instances = []
    def __init__(self,name="not defined"):
        self.name = name
        self.elapsed = 0.
        self.mode = 'init'
        self.starttime = 0.
        self.created = tm.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", tm.gmtime())
        Watch.count += 1

    def __call__(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            return tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            return self.elapsed
        else:
            return 0.

    def display(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            pass
        else:
            pass
        print "Name:       ", self.name
        print "Address:    ", self
        print "Created:    ", self.created
        print "Start-time: ", self.starttime
        print "Mode:       ", self.mode
        print "Elapsed:    ", self.elapsed
        print "Description:", self.description
        print "Author:     ", self.author

    def start(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.starttime = tm.time()
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.starttime = tm.time()
            self.mode = 'running'
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            self.mode = 'running'
            #self.elapsed = self.elapsed + tm.time() - self.starttime
            self.starttime = tm.time() - self.elapsed
        else:
            pass
        return

    def stop(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.mode = 'stopped'
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.mode = 'stopped'
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            pass
        else:
            pass
        return self.elapsed

    def lap(self):
        if self.mode == 'running':
            self.elapsed = tm.time() - self.starttime
        elif self.mode == 'init':
            self.elapsed = 0.
        elif self.mode == 'stopped':
            pass
        else:
            pass
        return self.elapsed

    def reset(self):
        self.starttime=0.
        self.elapsed=0.
        self.mode='init'
        return self.elapsed

def WatchList():
    return [i for i,j in zip(globals().keys(),globals().values()) if '__main__.Watch instance' in str(j)]

Answer 6

This is the Shortest Way I know of doing it:

def stopWatch():
        import time
        a = 0
        hours = 0
        while a < 1:
            for minutes in range(0, 60):
                for seconds in range(0, 60):
                    time.sleep(1)
                    print(hours,":", minutes,":", seconds)
        hours = hours + 1