Thread: Printf speed

Obviously, there is a limit to how fast you can write to console. Just add a printf statement and see how much it limits your speed.

Duplicate of:
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/showthread.php?t=108468

There are replies in both threads, so perhaps a moderator can merge the two.

--
Mats

As a reply to the post: printf can seriously slow your application down. How much depends on what your console actually is. A serial or network device may be significantly slower than a text-mode console in Windows, and the fastest is probably a full-screen text mode console in either Windows or Linux. [Actually, the size of the screen may also affect the print speed - I have been known to reduce a big console window to a few lines to improve the throughput of the application when it produces huge amount of console output - that will improve it by a fair amount if the printfs are actually what is slowing it down.

--
Mats

Just to prove my point, I wrote a test that prints 1000 lines of printf.

Unfortunately, in my dual screen setup, it appears much slower to scroll in full-screen than it does in Windows itself, so perhaps my last statement about text-only is not always true:
80 x 25 Window 0.5 seconds
80 x 50 Window 1.0 seconds
80 x 71 Window [1]: 2.2 seconds
80 x 25 full screen: 1.0 second
80 x 50 full screen: 2.0 seconds.

[1] With a 4000 line history buffer.

--
Mats

> Will printf slow down program performance? how much?
Yes, lots.

Since it's chess, I'd say speed is not a need. If you want something faster, then a library like pdcurses or ncurses would be suffice.

Originally Posted by matsp

Just to prove my point, I wrote a test that prints 1000 lines of printf.

Unfortunately, in my dual screen setup, it appears much slower to scroll in full-screen than it does in Windows itself, so perhaps my last statement about text-only is not always true:
80 x 25 Window 0.5 seconds
80 x 50 Window 1.0 seconds
80 x 71 Window [1]: 2.2 seconds
80 x 25 full screen: 1.0 second
80 x 50 full screen: 2.0 seconds.

[1] With a 4000 line history buffer.

--
Mats

Were you printing exactly the same thing in all the tests, or were you writing the entire line (which are different sizes in each test)?

Source code for the test:

Code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main()
{
  int i;
  clock_t t;
  t = clock();
  for(i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
    printf("%d abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVXYZ\n", i);
  printf("%f\n", (clock() - t) / (double) CLOCKS_PER_SEC);
  return 0;
}

--
Mats

Merged.

Writing to a buffer is a good idea.

As to "is it necessary to make it run fast", and there certainly are cases when this is essential. If you have a set limit for how long you are allowed to think on a chess-move, then you can easily spend half that time printing, which of course makes the system spend half as much time coming up with a good move.

--
Mats

> I can show 100 lines/sec, or 2 lines/sec.
Since there's no way for you to read 100 lines/sec, except to go "oooh, look at the speed those lines are being printed", I'd go with 2 per sec.

If you're more interested in logging output for debug, then write it to a file. FILE I/O is far quicker than screen I/O.

Originally Posted by chottachatri

You all are discussing about speed etc. and i don't even know how to start writing chess program. From where should i begin! that itself is not clear to me. If anybody can point me to some good article i can be thankful to him. Also in my 6th sem project i can try for a small chess game. It's only a 2 month project. Please suggest me can chess be completed in 2 months? and also how to start writing the program? I am eternally confused..!! Please reply to all my questions

Speed is critically important in chess - always has been, and always will be. More look-ahead in the search tree will give your program greater strength.

Clarity should be your first goal, however. Your program will need to be modified many times, and you must be able to do that easily, without adding more bugs to it.

You should not start to write a chess program from scratch if you don't know how to even get started.

A good start is to go to www.talkchess.com/ and start reading. For chess relevant questions, ask them there, for code questions, ask them here or there.

There are many tutorials for writing a simple chess program (which is quite an oxymoron), on the net. Google away!

TSCP (version 1.0) has been the standard for a simple chess program for years, but there are even simpler one's available: Simple Chess is one. Both are written in C.

Be sure you know how to use arrays and structs before you start - otherwise it's just an exercise in frustration. Many chess authors code up a game like Tic-Tac-Toe or Connect 4, or something like that, first.

IMO no, you can't write a chess program in 2 months, from scratch. Try Connect 4 instead. Chess has a lot of arcane rules like en-passant moves, castling, 50 move rule, etc., that make it much more difficult.