Timing a class function in C++

Question

A previous post, Timing in an elegant way in C, showed a neat method for profiling using a wrapper function. I am trying to use one of the profiler to profile my class functions.

#include <cmath>
#include <string>
#include <chrono>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>

template<typename Duration = std::chrono::microseconds,
         typename F,
         typename ... Args>
typename Duration::rep profile(F&& fun,  Args&&... args) {
  const auto beg = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
  std::forward<F>(fun)(std::forward<Args>(args)...);
  const auto end = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
  return std::chrono::duration_cast<Duration>(end - beg).count();
}

The profiler works for a normal function, but I am struggling to pass a class function to the profiler.

#include "Profiler.h"

int main()
{
    Config projConfig = Config(projConfigDir);
    std::string imagePath = projConfig.GetTIFF();
    
    ImageVector images_vec = Image::LoadImagesVec(imagePath);
    Detector detector = Detector(&projConfig);

    auto time = profile<std::chrono::seconds>(&Detector::DetectImages, detector, images_vec);
    //detector.DetectImages(images_vec); // if ran without profiler
    std::string _detectTime("DetectImages time elapsed: " + std::to_string(time));
    Logger::Info(_detectTime.c_str());
}

I am unable to compile the code. I got the following error message.

term does not evaluate to a function taking 2 arguments

Because I cannot pass pointer to a bounded function to the profiler, I tried passing in the function, the object instance to call the function and the function's arguments (not sure if this is the correct way). But I suspect that the profiler is not implemented to handle class methods. If so, how should I modify the profiler so that it can accept class functions?

`std::chrono::steady_clock` is the better choice for a timer. — sweenish, May 20 '22 at 04:37

wohlstad · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-28T16:37:18.910

You can use std::bind to create a callable object for invoking a class method on a class object.

Then you can pass this callable to your profile function as you would pass any function/lambda.
Note that using std::bind supports also fixing one or more of the method parameters.
Using std::placeholders (as you can see below) allows to specify them only when invoking the binded callable object.

See the example below:

#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
#include <functional>
#include <thread>
#include <string>

template<typename Duration = std::chrono::microseconds,
         typename F,
         typename ... Args>
    typename Duration::rep profile(F&& fun, Args&&... args) 
{
    const auto beg = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
    std::forward<F>(fun)(std::forward<Args>(args)...);
    const auto end = std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::now();
    return std::chrono::duration_cast<Duration>(end - beg).count();
}

struct MyClass
{
    void Run(std::string const & s, double d)
    {
        std::cout << "My id: " << id << ",  MyClass::Run(" << s << ", " << d << ")" << std::endl;
        std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(100));
    }
    int id{ 333 };
};

int main()
{
    MyClass c;

    // Run without profiling:
    c.Run("without", 2.3);

    // Run  with profiling:
    auto f = std::bind(&MyClass::Run, &c, std::placeholders::_1, std::placeholders::_2);
    auto time = profile<std::chrono::milliseconds>(f, "with", 23);
    std::cout << "time: " << time << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Output:

My id: 333,  MyClass::Run(without, 2.3)
My id: 333,  MyClass::Run(with, 23)
time: 109

Timing a class function in C++

1 Answers1