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Subject: Re: Crafty and single-computer winboard matches

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 12:39:51 10/09/99

Go up one level in this thread


On October 09, 1999 at 13:55:25, Dave Gomboc wrote:

>On October 09, 1999 at 13:02:38, Christophe Theron wrote:
>
>>On October 09, 1999 at 07:30:48, Vincent Lejeune wrote:
>>
>>>On October 08, 1999 at 16:43:37, Christophe Theron wrote:
>>>
>>>>On October 08, 1999 at 06:14:23, Vincent Lejeune wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On October 08, 1999 at 04:16:57, Christophe Theron wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On October 08, 1999 at 03:42:54, Dave Gomboc wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On October 07, 1999 at 23:29:05, Christophe Theron wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>That's a real problem on PC.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>The timer clicks 65536 times in 1 hour, which makes something close to 18.2
>>>>>>>>times per second, or a 0.05s timer resolution.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>This numbers come from the prehistoric IBM PC 4.77MHz and have never been
>>>>>>>>changed in 20 years, for compatibility reasons.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Even Windows programmers did not dare to change this. You have time functions in
>>>>>>>>Windows, they returns values in milliseconds, but still the resolution is about
>>>>>>>>0.05s!!!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Use performance tick counts if you develop for Win32.  (Actually, I am not 100%
>>>>>>>sure that Win98 supports them. :-(  WinNT does for sure.)  Their resolution is
>>>>>>>very good.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Dave
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Not sure this works. In the experiences I have done, the timer resolution was
>>>>>>always 0.05s. I'm pressimistic about getting something more accurate under
>>>>>>Windows 9x.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>This is not a big problem anyway...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>    Christophe
>>>>>
>>>>>I've tested the gettickcount() Win32 api, it's documented as have a 1
>>>>>millisecond time resolution and it have it effectivly.
>>>>>
>>>>>The win32 functions are usable in all Windows programming language (C++ (Borland
>>>>>and Microsoft), Delphi, ...)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Good to know. Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>    Christophe
>>>
>>>the gettickcount() function have one little drawback: it's a 32 bits variable.
>>>So every (about) 47 days, the counter going back to 0, you need to add simple
>>>test if the gettickcount()-starttime is < 0.
>>
>>The (hand written) function I use currently has exactly the same problem, so it
>>is not a killer for me.
>>
>>
>>    Christophe
>
>Note that this bug has existed since 1995, and took more than three years to
>discover.  Apparently, machines that stay up for 47 days are not too common in
>the Windows world. :-)
>
>Dave


I have always used "wall clock time" for important games, and have had to
correct the time on going past midnight always...



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