Introduction

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Meziantou.Framework.ValueStopwatch provides ValueStopwatch, a stopwatch that is a readonly struct. It records the timestamp at which it starts, and computes the elapsed time from it when you ask. Starting one allocates nothing, which makes it suitable for code that measures many short operations: middleware, request handlers, loops.

ValueStopwatch uses the same high-resolution timestamps as Stopwatch: Stopwatch.GetTimestamp and Stopwatch.GetElapsedTime. It is based on the ValueStopwatch that the .NET runtime uses internally.

What you can do with it

Measure the duration of an operation with StartNew and GetElapsedTime. See Getting started.
Detect a stopwatch that was never started, such as a default value or an uninitialized field. See Getting started.
Work with raw timestamps that you store or compare yourself. See Timestamps.

When to use it

Use ValueStopwatch to measure a duration from a starting point. It has no Stop, Reset or Restart: it always measures the time since StartNew. To pause and resume a measure, or to accumulate several intervals, use Stopwatch.

ValueStopwatch is a regular struct, not a ref struct: you can store it in a field, capture it in a lambda, or keep it across an await. It is immutable, so copying it is safe: the copy measures from the same starting point.

Namespace

ValueStopwatch is in the Meziantou.Framework namespace.

Next steps

Getting started: install the package and measure your first operation.