Execution time of functions

The timeit module is a handy tool for measuring the execution time of small code snippets, including functions. It provides a simple way to time how long it takes for a function to run, which is useful for performance testing and optimization.

Here is how you can use timeit to measure the execution time of a function:

import timeit

# Define a function
def my_function():
        return sum(range(1000))

# Measure the execution time of the function
execution_time = timeit.timeit("my_function()", globals=globals(), number=1000)

The first parameter is the name of the function to test.

This second one ensures that the my_function defined in the global scope is accessible within the timeit call.

The last one, called number, specifies how many times to run the code. The default is 1, but running it multiple times helps average out any fluctuations.

>>> print(f"Execution time: {execution_time} seconds")
Execution time: 0.01500284999999168 seconds

It is also possible to test a function with parameters.

import timeit

# Define a function
def my_function(a, b):
        return a + b

# Measure the execution time of the function
execution_time = timeit.timeit(lambda: my_function(2, 3), globals=globals(), number=1000)