c++ how to set a certain amount of time a process runs for?

Don't smoke your CPU with a while(clock() < time) kinds of loops.

Depending on your compiler and OS, you can run your code on a separate thread while sleeping in main() or set up a timer:

thread solutions:

C++0x (the newest revision of the C++ language):

#include <thread>

void process()

{

     // your code goes here

}

int main()

{

     std::thread t(process);

     std::this_thread::sleep_for( std::chrono::minutes(1) );

}

(tested with gcc 4.4.5)

C++98 (the oldest revision of the C++ language) with boost libraries (www.boost.org)

#include <boost/thread.hpp>

void process()

{

     // your code goes here

}

int main()

{

     boost::thread t(process);

     boost::this_thread::sleep( boost::posix_time::minutes(1) );

}

C++98 on a POSIX OS (such as Linux)

#include <pthread.h>

#include <unistd.h>

void* process(void* arg)

{

     // your code goes here

     return arg;

}

int main()

{

     pthread_t id;

     pthread_create(&id, NULL, process, NULL);

     sleep(60);

}

C++98 on Windows OS

#include <windows.h>

DWORD WINAPI process(void)

{

     // your code here

     return 0;

}

int main()

{

     DWORD id;

     CreateThread(NULL, 0, (LPTHREAD_START_ROUTINE) process, NULL, 0, &id);

     Sleep(60*1000);

}

alarm timer solutions:

C++98 on a POSIX OS

#include <unistd.h>

#include <signal.h>

#include <time.h>

int main()

{

     timer_t timerid;

     timer_create(CLOCK_REALTIME, NULL, &timerid);

     itimerspec its = {{0, 0}, {60, 0}};

     timer_settime(timerid, 0, &its, NULL);

     // your code goes here.

}

I think Windows has its own timer event, WM_TIMER, too, but that's enough for one post.

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#include <ctime>

int main()

{

    clock_t end_time = clock() + 60 * CLOCKS_PER_SEC;

    while(clock() < end_time)

    {

        // your code here

    }

}

If your code is more linear in nature, and you don't want to constantly check the time, you just want to end your program abruptly, you can use threads. Here's an example using boost, which if you don't have, you should. http://www.boost.org/

#include <ctime>

#include <iostream>

#include <boost/thread.hpp>

void threadmain()

{

    // Your main program here

}

int main()

{

    boost::thread th(threadmain);

    clock_t end_time = clock() + 5 * CLOCKS_PER_SEC;

    while(clock() < end_time)

    {}

// program ends abruptly, whether the other thread is done or not

}