StopWatch in VB.NET

The StopWatch class in .NET Framework is used to measure the elapsed time accurately.

The class provides Start, Stop, StartNew, Reset, Restart and GetTimestamp methods.


Imports System
Imports System.Diagnostics

Class OperationsTimer

   Public Shared Sub Main()
      DisplayTimerProperties()

      Console.WriteLine()
      Console.WriteLine("Press the Enter key to begin:")
      Console.ReadLine()
      Console.WriteLine()

      TimeOperations()
   End Sub


   Public Shared Sub DisplayTimerProperties()

      ' Display the timer frequency and resolution.
      If Stopwatch.IsHighResolution Then
         Console.WriteLine("Operations timed using the system's high-resolution performance counter.")
      Else
         Console.WriteLine("Operations timed using the DateTime class.")
      End If

      Dim frequency As Long = Stopwatch.Frequency
      Console.WriteLine("  Timer frequency in ticks per second = {0}", frequency)
      Dim nanosecPerTick As Long = 1000000000 / frequency
      Console.WriteLine("  Timer is accurate within {0} nanoseconds", nanosecPerTick)

   End Sub

   Private Shared Sub TimeOperations()

      Dim nanosecPerTick As Long = 1000000000 / Stopwatch.Frequency
      Const numIterations As Long = 10000

      ' Define the operation title names.
      Dim operationNames As String() =  _
        {"Operation: Int32.Parse(""0"")", _
         "Operation: Int32.TryParse(""0"")", _
         "Operation: Int32.Parse(""a"")", _
         "Operation: Int32.TryParse(""a"")"}

      ' Time four different implementations for parsing
      ' an integer from a string.

      Dim operation As Integer
      For operation = 0 To 3
         ' Define variables for operation statistics.
         Dim numTicks As Long = 0
         Dim numRollovers As Long = 0
         Dim maxTicks As Long = 0
         Dim minTicks As Long = Int64.MaxValue
         Dim indexFastest As Integer = - 1
         Dim indexSlowest As Integer = - 1
         Dim milliSec As Long = 0

         Dim time10kOperations As Stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew()

         ' Run the current operation 10001 times.
         ' The first execution time will be tossed
         ' out, since it can skew the average time.
         Dim i As Integer
         For i = 0 To numIterations
            Dim ticksThisTime As Long = 0
            Dim inputNum As Integer
            Dim timePerParse As Stopwatch

            Select Case operation
               Case 0
                  ' Parse a valid integer using
                  ' a try-catch statement.
                  ' Start a new stopwatch timer.
                  timePerParse = Stopwatch.StartNew()

                  Try
                     inputNum = Int32.Parse("0")
                  Catch e As FormatException
                     inputNum = 0
                  End Try

                  ' Stop the timer, and save the
                  ' elapsed ticks for the operation.
                  timePerParse.Stop()
                  ticksThisTime = timePerParse.ElapsedTicks
               Case 1
                  ' Parse a valid integer using
                  ' the TryParse statement.
                  ' Start a new stopwatch timer.
                  timePerParse = Stopwatch.StartNew()

                  If Not Int32.TryParse("0", inputNum) Then
                     inputNum = 0
                  End If

                  ' Stop the timer, and save the
                  ' elapsed ticks for the operation.
                  timePerParse.Stop()
                  ticksThisTime = timePerParse.ElapsedTicks
               Case 2
                  ' Parse an invalid value using
                  ' a try-catch statement.
                  ' Start a new stopwatch timer.
                  timePerParse = Stopwatch.StartNew()

                  Try
                     inputNum = Int32.Parse("a")
                  Catch e As FormatException
                     inputNum = 0
                  End Try

                  ' Stop the timer, and save the
                  ' elapsed ticks for the operation.
                  timePerParse.Stop()
                  ticksThisTime = timePerParse.ElapsedTicks
               Case 3
                  ' Parse an invalid value using
                  ' the TryParse statement.
                  ' Start a new stopwatch timer.
                  timePerParse = Stopwatch.StartNew()

                  If Not Int32.TryParse("a", inputNum) Then
                     inputNum = 0
                  End If

                  ' Stop the timer, and save the
                  ' elapsed ticks for the operation.
                  timePerParse.Stop()
                  ticksThisTime = timePerParse.ElapsedTicks

               Case Else
            End Select

            ' Skip over the time for the first operation,
            ' just in case it caused a one-time
            ' performance hit.
            If i = 0 Then
               time10kOperations.Reset()
               time10kOperations.Start()
            Else

               ' Update operation statistics
               ' for iterations 1-10001.
               If maxTicks < ticksThisTime Then
                  indexSlowest = i
                  maxTicks = ticksThisTime
               End If
               If minTicks > ticksThisTime Then
                  indexFastest = i
                  minTicks = ticksThisTime
               End If
               numTicks += ticksThisTime
               If numTicks < ticksThisTime Then
                  ' Keep track of rollovers.
                  numRollovers += 1
               End If
            End If
         Next i

         ' Display the statistics for 10000 iterations.
         time10kOperations.Stop()
         milliSec = time10kOperations.ElapsedMilliseconds

         Console.WriteLine()
         Console.WriteLine("{0} Summary:", operationNames(operation))
         Console.WriteLine("  Slowest time:  #{0}/{1} = {2} ticks", _
            indexSlowest, numIterations, maxTicks)
         Console.WriteLine("  Fastest time:  #{0}/{1} = {2} ticks", _
            indexFastest, numIterations, minTicks)
         Console.WriteLine("  Average time:  {0} ticks = {1} nanoseconds", _
            numTicks / numIterations, numTicks * nanosecPerTick / numIterations)
         Console.WriteLine("  Total time looping through {0} operations: {1} milliseconds", _
            numIterations, milliSec)
      Next operation

   End Sub
End Class