how to make a program stop after a while

how do i make a segment of program stop after a while, say 30 seconds and give a variable whatever it gets so far?

thanks in advance.

The only general solution (and fortunately the easiest if you have access to source code) is to modify the "segment" so it periodically checks elapsed time and, when required, print out the required variables.

For example, if the segment is executing a loop, add code to the loop body that checks time and prints variables of interest.

Originally Posted by grumpy

The only general solution (and fortunately the easiest if you have access to source code) is to modify the "segment" so it periodically checks elapsed time and, when required, print out the required variables.

For example, if the segment is executing a loop, add code to the loop body that checks time and prints variables of interest.

how do you do it in c++? can you give me an example: like get the start time and the end time, and then get the total elapsed time.

Originally Posted by xiaohuai

how do you do it in c++? can you give me an example: like get the start time and the end time, and then get the total elapsed time.

_Mike writes: c++ time
Google replies: time - C++ Reference

If you want higher resolution on your timers I think you'd have to use some platform-specific APIs or a 3rd-party library.

To be quite frank, you simply use a loop of some kind, e.g. a while loop. Pseudocode:
while now - start_time < 30
Do_Stuff