How fast can timers execute?

[Sgqvur]

Which is the lowest value that a timer period can be set and it will execute it's code after it's expiration?
I am getting results of 10 004 per second as a maximum value. The snippet I use to test:

globals
    integer i = 0
    timer   t  = CreateTimer()
    timer   t2 = CreateTimer()
endglobals
    
function stop_t takes nothing returns nothing
    call PauseTimer(t)
    call BJDebugMsg("i = " + R2S(i))
    set i = 0
endfunction

function inc_i takes nothing returns nothing
    set i = i + 1
endfunction

function test_timer_speed takes nothing returns nothing
    call TimerStart(t, 0.0002, true, function inc_i)    
    call TimerStart(t2, 1.0, false, function stop_t)
endfunction

function InitTrig_timer_speed takes nothing returns nothing
    local trigger t = CreateTrigger()
    call TriggerRegisterPlayerEventEndCinematic(t, Player(0))
    call TriggerAddAction(t, function test_timer_speed)
endfunction

Is the speed determined by the computer's internal timer and cpu or is it the 10 004 a sort of like the light speed barrier?

Not that I need something to be done 10 004 times per second but still... just curious.

Edit: actually with a value of zero I get 10 084 times per second =): [ljass]TimerStart(t, 0, true, function inc_i)[/ljass]

 

[TheLegend]

ok here are my results, with 0.0002 i barely hit 8000 (first time launched just over 5000 and then constantly repeating) but with your "o" in "EDIT" i hit 10082 (first launch 10010 and then repeating) my cpu speed is 3.0 amd 2x2

EDIT:
OMG after a few tries i hit 28730, I think it must be a bug

 

[PurgeandFire]

ok here are my results, with 0.0002 i barely hit 8000 (first time launched just over 5000 and then constantly repeating) but with your "o" in "EDIT" i hit 10082 (first launch 10010 and then repeating) my cpu speed is 3.0 amd 2x2

EDIT:
OMG after a few tries i hit 28730, I think it must be a bug

I got 10082 as well. Anyway, as for the edit, that probably occurred because you pressed esc before the first one was over, so it probably incremented two or three times.

 

[Troll-Brain]

period <= 0.0001 will just be equal to 0.0001.
You can do fun things with negative periods, sadly you can't return to the past, but you can link an integer to a "0" timer (even if you will have to use R2I).

 

[Sgqvur]

Troll-Brain:
1. period <= 0.0001 will just be equal to 0.0001.
2. You can do fun things with negative periods

1. Yeah, I confirm this.
2. What things? It seams to me that a period < 0 is the same as a period = 0 or anything less than 0.0001


Oh and I am getting 10 082 (not 10 084) as well =), after the first try I get ~10 000 then ~10 035 and then it maxes at 10 082 with a period = 0.

I am really curious of why Blizzard has made their timers so fast. For a comparision the timers in JavaScript are capped at 10-15ms (miliseconds), probably depending on the OS, browser and browser version. 10 ms is 0.01 of a second which means that in theory something can happen 100 times per second at best and probably less often if more timers/events are taking place at the same time thus degrading performance. This means that Blizzard's timers are 100x times faster than JavaScript's =). I am not sure if Blizzard's timers will degrade in performance if the game starts to lag(many things happen at the same time). Also I am not sure and I am probably writting false facts but I read that C Sharp's (C#) and in general the Windows OS's timers are also capped at 10ms which is somehow connected to the system time being update this often. So I am starting to wonder how did Blizzard pulled off their timer implementation.

PS: it's kinda ironic that timers are this fast but TriggerSleepAction is both inaccurate and capped to 0.1 at best =/

 

[TheLegend]

this just proves that JASS and vJASS are the best scripting languages there are, their only problem is that theyre bound to wc3, if blizzard could extract JASS out of the world editor and make a game programming language BLIZZARD would earn looooots of money by selling it

 

[Troll-Brain]

You can do this :

Quick timer attach

It would be faster than GetHandleId + an hashtable and even maybe than a GetHandleId - offset + an array.
But i haven't made any benchmark, i just find it fun, that's all