time_delaysincelast

#Time.DelaySinceLast

##Syntax Time.DelaySinceLast ( duration : int )

##Description The Time.DelaySinceLast procedure is used to cause the program to pause for a given time since the last call to Time.DelaySinceLast. The time duration is in milliseconds.

##Example This program outputs from 1 to 100,000, then outputs how long it took to do this (in milliseconds). It then calls Time.DelaySinceLastto wait until 10 seconds has passed since the beginning of theprogram (regardless of how long it took to execute the loop). Finallyit outputs how many milliseconds has passed since the program started.This should be close to 10,000 milliseconds.

    var t : int := Time.Elapsed
    put "Starting now, count to 100,000"
    for i : 1 .. 100000
        put i ..
        locate (whatrow, 1)
    end for
    put "Finished counting to 100,000"
    
    put "Elapsed time: ", Time.Elapsed - t, " milliseconds"
    Time.DelaySinceLast (10000)
    put "Elapsed time: ", Time.Elapsed - t, " milliseconds"

##Details The Time.DelaySinceLast is usually used to time a process so that it operates on the same speed no matter what the machine. For example, in the above example, the program will alwyas take 10 seconds to execute, regardless of the speed of the machine (up to a point). Fast machines will spend little time in the forloop and longer waiting to return from Time.DelaySinceLast.Slower machines will take longer to execute the loop and will consequently wait less time before returning from Time.DelaySinceLast.

The Time.DelaySinceLast procedure is often used to time the speed of animation in games.

Note that this only works up to a point. On a very slow machine, thefor loop may take longer than 10 seconds to execute, in whichcase the call to Time.DelaySinceLast will return instantly.

##Status Exported qualified.

This means that you can only call the function by calling Time.DelaySinceLast, not by calling DelaySinceLast.

##See also time_elapsed.html and time_elapsedcpu.html.