[Python-Dev] Rename time.steady(strict=True) to time.monotonic()?

Sat Mar 24 03:08:58 CET 2012

Victor Stinner wrote:
>> Is steady() merely a convenience function to avoid the user having
>> to write something like this?
>> steady() remembers if the last call to monotonic failed or not. The
> real implementation is closer to something like:
>> def steady():
> if not steady.has_monotonic:
> return time.time()
> try:
> return time.monotonic()
> except (AttributeError, OSError):
> steady.has_monotonic = False
> return time.time()
> steady.has_monotonic = True

Does this mean that there are circumstances where monotonic will work for a 
while, but then fail?
Otherwise, we would only need to check monotonic once, when the time module is 
first loaded, rather than every time it is called. Instead of the above:
# global to the time module
try:
 monotonic()
except (NameError, OSError):
 steady = time
else:
 steady = monotonic
Are there failure modes where monotonic can recover? That is, it works for a 
while, then raises OSError, then works again on the next call.
If so, steady will stop using monotonic and never try it again. Is that 
deliberate?
-- 
Steven