NAME
     RHP::Timer - A high resolution timer abstraction

SYNOPSIS
     use RHP::Timer ();
     use My::Logger ();

     $logger = My::Logger->new;
     $timer  = RHP::Timer->new();

     # timing data from the point of the caller
     $timer->start('fizzbin');
     fizzbin(); # how fast is fizzbin?
     $logger->info(
         sprintf("Timing caller: %s %s %d, timer_name: %s, time: %s",
         @{$timer->checkpoint}));

     # or simpler
     $timer->start('foobin');
     foobin();
     $logger->info("pid $$ timer " . $timer->current . 
         " took " . $timer->stop . " seconds");

     # what was the last timing block?
     $logger->info("Last timing block " . $timer->current . 
         " took " . $timer->last_interval . " seconds");

DESCRIPTION
    RHP::Timer is a wrapper around Time::HiRes. I wrote it because I needed
    some simple abstractions for timing programs to determine bottlenecks in
    running programs.

    The goals of RHP::Timer is to be easy to use, accurate, and simple.

METHODS
    new()
         $timer = RHP::Timer->new();

        Constructor which takes no arguments and returns a timer object

    start()
         $timer->start('fizzbin');

        Starts the timer for 'fizzbin'

    stop()
         $interval = $timer->stop;

        Stops the last timer started, and returns the number of seconds
        between start and stop.

    current()
         $timer_name = $timer->current();
         # $timer_name is 'fizzbin' from previous pod

        Returns the name of the most recent timer started.

    checkpoint()
         [ caller(), $timer_name, $interval ] = $timer->checkpoint();

        Stops the current timer and returns an array reference containing
        caller() information, the name of the timer stopped, and the
        interval of the last timing run. Useful for passing to a logfile in
        sprintf or other format.

    last_interval()
         $last_interval = $timer->last_interval;

        Returns the last timing interval recorded by the timer object.

BUGS
    None known yet. If you find any, or want a feature, email the author.

SEE ALSO
    Time::HiRes(3)

AUTHOR
    Fred Moyer <fred@redhotpenguin.com>

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright 2007 Red Hot Penguin Consulting LLC

LICENSE
    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.6 or, at
    your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

