Use of max()?

[Thekid]

I'm trying to capture the fastest time in a program. I'll use this as an example:
run and time a loop and then print out the fastest time. How do I go about that? Something like this:

from time import time
for i in range(10):
    startTime=time()
    t=time()-startTime
    if t>max():
         max()=t
         print i,t
 

I know this isn't correct but used it as an example for what I'm trying to do.

[bartonc]

I'm trying to capture the fastest time in a program. I'll use this as an example:
run and time a loop and then print out the fastest time. How do I go about that? Something like this:

from time import time
for i in range(10):
    startTime=time()
    t=time()-startTime
    if t>max():
         max()=t
         print i,t
 

I know this isn't correct but used it as an example for what I'm trying to do.

First: here's how max() works:
>>> a = 3
>>> b = 7
>>> max(a, b)
7
>>> max(b, a)
7
>>>
Second: there are a few things wrong with what you have written:

         max()=t

1) You can't assign to a funcion.

from time import time
maxDuration = 0
for i in range(10):
    startTime = time()
    # do something that takes time
    t = time() - startTime
    if t > maxDuration :
        maxDuration  = t
        print i, t
 

2) Don't you just want another variable?
3) Python has a timeit module to do all this for you. I'll dig up some info for you.

[Thekid]

Thanks! I tried your script and it works nicely. I will check out timeit as well!

[bartonc]

Thanks! I tried your script and it works nicely. I will check out timeit as well!

The documentation is kind of lacking on this one.
Here is a link to some code snippets that I wrote. Try it out and post here (in a new thread) with questions.

[Thekid]

Awesome! Thanks again!

[bartonc]

Awesome! Thanks again!

You are welcome. Keep posting,
Barton