Time

The Time module provides essential time manipulation capabilities for Soul, including sleep functionality, current timestamp retrieval, and comprehensive duration constants for time calculations. It follows a JavaScript-style API for familiar usage patterns.

Time Operations

now - Get current timestamp

Get the current Unix timestamp in seconds:

// Get current timestamp
timestamp = Time.now()
println(timestamp)  // 1704110400 (example Unix timestamp)

// Use timestamp for calculations
startTime = Time.now()
// ... do some work ...
endTime = Time.now()
duration = endTime - startTime
println("Operation took " + duration + " seconds")

sleep - Pause execution

Pause execution for a specified number of milliseconds:

// Sleep for 1 second (1000 milliseconds)
Time.sleep(1000)
println("This prints after 1 second")

// Sleep for half a second
Time.sleep(500)
println("This prints after 500ms")

// Sleep for 2.5 seconds
Time.sleep(2500)
println("This prints after 2.5 seconds")

Duration Constants

The Time module provides duration constants that return the number of seconds for each time unit. These constants are useful for time calculations and conversions.

nanosecond - Nanosecond duration

Returns the duration of one nanosecond in seconds:

nano = Time.nanosecond
println(nano)  // 0.00001 (1 nanosecond in seconds)

// Convert nanoseconds to seconds
nanoseconds = 1000000000  // 1 billion nanoseconds
seconds = nanoseconds * Time.nanosecond
println(seconds)  // 0.01 (10 milliseconds)

microsecond - Microsecond duration

Returns the duration of one microsecond in seconds:

micro = Time.microsecond
println(micro)  // 0.0001 (1 microsecond in seconds)

// Convert microseconds to seconds
microseconds = 1000000  // 1 million microseconds
seconds = microseconds * Time.microsecond
println(seconds)  // 0.1 (100 milliseconds)

millisecond - Millisecond duration

Returns the duration of one millisecond in seconds:

milli = Time.millisecond
println(milli)  // 0.001 (1 millisecond in seconds)

// Convert milliseconds to seconds
milliseconds = 5000
seconds = milliseconds * Time.millisecond
println(seconds)  // 5 (5 seconds)

second - Second duration

Returns the duration of one second:

sec = Time.second
println(sec)  // 1 (1 second)

// Use as base unit for calculations
minutes = 5
totalSeconds = minutes * 60 * Time.second
println(totalSeconds)  // 300 (5 minutes in seconds)

minute - Minute duration

Returns the duration of one minute in seconds:

min = Time.minute
println(min)  // 60 (1 minute in seconds)

// Convert minutes to seconds
minutes = 15
seconds = minutes * Time.minute
println(seconds)  // 900 (15 minutes in seconds)

hour - Hour duration

Returns the duration of one hour in seconds:

hr = Time.hour
println(hr)  // 3600 (1 hour in seconds)

// Convert hours to seconds
hours = 2.5
seconds = hours * Time.hour
println(seconds)  // 9000 (2.5 hours in seconds)

day - Day duration

Returns the duration of one day in seconds:

day = Time.day
println(day)  // 86400 (1 day in seconds)

// Convert days to seconds
days = 7
seconds = days * Time.day
println(seconds)  // 604800 (1 week in seconds)

week - Week duration

Returns the duration of one week in seconds:

week = Time.week
println(week)  // 604800 (1 week in seconds)

// Convert weeks to seconds
weeks = 4
seconds = weeks * Time.week
println(seconds)  // 2419200 (4 weeks in seconds)

month - Month duration

Returns the duration of one month in seconds (30 days):

month = Time.month
println(month)  // 2592000 (30 days in seconds)

// Convert months to seconds
months = 3
seconds = months * Time.month
println(seconds)  // 7776000 (3 months in seconds)

year - Year duration

Returns the duration of one year in seconds (365 days):

year = Time.year
println(year)  // 31536000 (365 days in seconds)

// Convert years to seconds
years = 2
seconds = years * Time.year
println(seconds)  // 63072000 (2 years in seconds)

Time Calculations

Duration Conversions

Convert between different time units:

// Convert 2 hours to different units
hours = 2
milliseconds = hours * Time.hour * 1000
minutes = hours * 60
seconds = hours * Time.hour

println("2 hours = " + milliseconds + " milliseconds")  // 7200000
println("2 hours = " + minutes + " minutes")            // 120
println("2 hours = " + seconds + " seconds")            // 7200

Time Arithmetic

Perform arithmetic operations with time values:

// Calculate total duration
meetingDuration = 1.5 * Time.hour
breakDuration = 15 * Time.minute
totalTime = meetingDuration + breakDuration

println("Total time: " + totalTime + " seconds")  // 6300 seconds

// Calculate time remaining
deadline = Time.now() + 5 * Time.day
remaining = deadline - Time.now()
daysLeft = remaining / Time.day
println("Days until deadline: " + daysLeft)

Practical Examples

Timer Implementation

soul Timer {
    init() {
        this.startTime = null
        this.endTime = null
        this.isRunning = false
    }
    
    soul start() {
        this.startTime = Time.now()
        this.isRunning = true
        println("Timer started")
    }
    
    soul stop() {
        if (!this.isRunning) {
            println("Timer is not running")
            return
        }
        
        this.endTime = Time.now()
        this.isRunning = false
        println("Timer stopped")
    }
    
    soul elapsed() {
        if (this.startTime == null) {
            return 0
        }
        
        end = this.isRunning ? Time.now() : this.endTime
        return end - this.startTime
    }
    
    soul elapsedFormatted() {
        seconds = this.elapsed()
        
        if (seconds < Time.minute) {
            return seconds.toFixed(2) + " seconds"
        } else if (seconds < Time.hour) {
            minutes = seconds / Time.minute
            return minutes.toFixed(2) + " minutes"
        } else {
            hours = seconds / Time.hour
            return hours.toFixed(2) + " hours"
        }
    }
}

// Usage
timer = Timer()
timer.start()
Time.sleep(2000)  // Sleep for 2 seconds
timer.stop()
println("Elapsed: " + timer.elapsedFormatted())

Retry Mechanism with Exponential Backoff

soul retryWithBackoff(operation, maxRetries, initialDelay) {
    delay = initialDelay
    
    for attempt in range(maxRetries) {
        try {
            result = operation()
            println("Operation succeeded on attempt " + (attempt + 1))
            return result
        } catch error {
            if (attempt == maxRetries - 1) {
                println("Operation failed after " + maxRetries + " attempts")
                throw error
            }
            
            println("Attempt " + (attempt + 1) + " failed, retrying in " + delay + "ms")
            Time.sleep(delay)
            delay *= 2  // Exponential backoff
        }
    }
}

// Usage
soul unreliableOperation() {
    // Simulate 70% failure rate
    if (Math.random() < 0.7) {
        throw new Error("Random failure")
    }
    return "Success!"
}

result = retryWithBackoff(unreliableOperation, 5, 100)
println(result)

Rate Limiting

soul RateLimiter {
    init(maxRequests, timeWindow) {
        this.maxRequests = maxRequests
        this.timeWindow = timeWindow  // in seconds
        this.requests = []
    }
    
    soul cleanOldRequests() {
        now = Time.now()
        cutoff = now - this.timeWindow
        
        this.requests = Array.filter(this.requests, soul(timestamp) {
            return timestamp > cutoff
        })
    }
    
    soul canMakeRequest() {
        this.cleanOldRequests()
        return Array.length(this.requests) < this.maxRequests
    }
    
    soul makeRequest() {
        if (!this.canMakeRequest()) {
            return false
        }
        
        Array.push(this.requests, Time.now())
        return true
    }
    
    soul timeUntilNextRequest() {
        if (this.canMakeRequest()) {
            return 0
        }
        
        this.cleanOldRequests()
        if (Array.length(this.requests) == 0) {
            return 0
        }
        
        oldestRequest = Array.min(this.requests)
        return (oldestRequest + this.timeWindow) - Time.now()
    }
}

// Usage: 5 requests per minute
limiter = RateLimiter(5, Time.minute)

soul makeApiCall() {
    if (limiter.canMakeRequest()) {
        limiter.makeRequest()
        println("API call made at " + Time.now())
        return true
    } else {
        waitTime = limiter.timeUntilNextRequest()
        println("Rate limit exceeded. Wait " + waitTime + " seconds")
        return false
    }
}

// Test the rate limiter
for i in range(10) {
    makeApiCall()
    Time.sleep(5000)  // Wait 5 seconds between attempts
}

Periodic Task Scheduler

soul PeriodicScheduler {
    init() {
        this.tasks = []
        this.running = false
    }
    
    soul addTask(interval, callback) {
        task = {
            interval: interval,
            callback: callback,
            lastRun: 0
        }
        Array.push(this.tasks, task)
    }
    
    soul start() {
        this.running = true
        println("Scheduler started")
        
        while this.running {
            now = Time.now()
            
            Array.forEach(this.tasks, soul(task) {
                if (now - task.lastRun >= task.interval) {
                    try {
                        task.callback()
                        task.lastRun = now
                    } catch error {
                        println("Task failed: " + error)
                    }
                }
            })
            
            Time.sleep(100)  // Check every 100ms
        }
    }
    
    soul stop() {
        this.running = false
        println("Scheduler stopped")
    }
}

// Usage
scheduler = PeriodicScheduler()

// Add tasks
scheduler.addTask(5 * Time.second, soul() {
    println("Heartbeat at " + Time.now())
})

scheduler.addTask(Time.minute, soul() {
    println("Minute check at " + Time.now())
})

scheduler.addTask(10 * Time.second, soul() {
    println("Status report at " + Time.now())
})

// Start scheduler (this will run indefinitely)
scheduler.start()

Time-based Cache

soul TimedCache {
    init(ttl) {
        this.ttl = ttl  // Time to live in seconds
        this.cache = {}
    }
    
    soul set(key, value) {
        this.cache[key] = {
            value: value,
            expires: Time.now() + this.ttl
        }
    }
    
    soul get(key) {
        if (!this.cache.hasKey(key)) {
            return null
        }
        
        entry = this.cache[key]
        if (Time.now() > entry.expires) {
            this.cache.remove(key)
            return null
        }
        
        return entry.value
    }
    
    soul cleanup() {
        now = Time.now()
        expiredKeys = []
        
        for (key in this.cache) {
            if (now > this.cache[key].expires) {
                Array.push(expiredKeys, key)
            }
        }
        
        Array.forEach(expiredKeys, soul(key) {
            this.cache.remove(key)
        })
        
        return Array.length(expiredKeys)
    }
    
    soul size() {
        return Object.keys(this.cache).length
    }
}

// Usage
cache = TimedCache(30 * Time.second)  // 30 second TTL

// Set values
cache.set("user:123", {name: "Alice", active: true})
cache.set("session:abc", {userId: 123, token: "xyz"})

// Get values
user = cache.get("user:123")
println(user)  // {name: "Alice", active: true}

// Wait and check expiration
Time.sleep(35000)  // Wait 35 seconds
user = cache.get("user:123")
println(user)  // null (expired)

// Manual cleanup
removed = cache.cleanup()
println("Removed " + removed + " expired entries")

Benchmark Utility

soul Benchmark {
    soul measure(name, iterations, func) {
        println("Running benchmark: " + name)
        
        startTime = Time.now()
        
        for i in range(iterations) {
            func()
        }
        
        endTime = Time.now()
        totalTime = endTime - startTime
        avgTime = totalTime / iterations
        
        println("Total time: " + totalTime + " seconds")
        println("Average time: " + (avgTime * 1000) + " milliseconds")
        println("Iterations: " + iterations)
        println("Throughput: " + (iterations / totalTime) + " ops/sec")
        println("---")
        
        return {
            name: name,
            totalTime: totalTime,
            averageTime: avgTime,
            iterations: iterations,
            throughput: iterations / totalTime
        }
    }
    
    soul compare(benchmarks) {
        println("Benchmark Comparison:")
        
        fastest = Array.min(benchmarks, soul(b) { return b.averageTime })
        
        Array.forEach(benchmarks, soul(benchmark) {
            ratio = benchmark.averageTime / fastest.averageTime
            println(benchmark.name + ": " + ratio.toFixed(2) + "x slower")
        })
    }
}

// Usage
soul testFunction1() {
    // Simulate work
    result = 0
    for i in range(1000) {
        result += i
    }
    return result
}

soul testFunction2() {
    // Simulate different work
    result = 1
    for i in range(100) {
        result *= 1.001
    }
    return result
}

// Run benchmarks
benchmark1 = Benchmark.measure("Test Function 1", 1000, testFunction1)
benchmark2 = Benchmark.measure("Test Function 2", 1000, testFunction2)

// Compare results
Benchmark.compare([benchmark1, benchmark2])

Best Practices

Use appropriate time units: Choose duration constants that match your use case
Handle sleep interruptions: Be aware that sleep operations pause execution
Consider time zones: Time.now() returns UTC timestamp
Use constants for readability: Duration constants make code more readable than magic numbers
Measure performance: Use timers to measure execution time of operations

// Good - use duration constants
timeout = 30 * Time.second
interval = 5 * Time.minute
deadline = Time.now() + 7 * Time.day

// Good - readable sleep durations
Time.sleep(2 * Time.second)  // instead of Time.sleep(2000)
Time.sleep(500 * Time.millisecond)  // instead of Time.sleep(500)

// Good - measure execution time
startTime = Time.now()
performOperation()
executionTime = Time.now() - startTime
println("Operation took " + executionTime + " seconds")

// Good - convert to appropriate units
soul formatDuration(seconds) {
    if (seconds < Time.minute) {
        return seconds.toFixed(2) + " seconds"
    } else if (seconds < Time.hour) {
        return (seconds / Time.minute).toFixed(2) + " minutes"
    } else if (seconds < Time.day) {
        return (seconds / Time.hour).toFixed(2) + " hours"
    } else {
        return (seconds / Time.day).toFixed(2) + " days"
    }
}

// Good - handle long operations with progress
soul longOperation(items) {
    total = Array.length(items)
    startTime = Time.now()
    
    for i, item in enumerate(items) {
        processItem(item)
        
        // Show progress every 10 items
        if (i % 10 == 0) {
            elapsed = Time.now() - startTime
            remaining = (elapsed / (i + 1)) * (total - i - 1)
            println("Progress: " + (i + 1) + "/" + total + 
                   " (ETA: " + formatDuration(remaining) + ")")
        }
    }
}

The Time module provides essential timing capabilities for Soul applications, enabling precise time management, performance measurement, and time-based operations with a comprehensive set of duration constants for all common time units.

CLI Usage

Modules

Syntaxes

Time

Time

Time Operations

now - Get current timestamp

sleep - Pause execution

Duration Constants

nanosecond - Nanosecond duration

microsecond - Microsecond duration

millisecond - Millisecond duration

second - Second duration

minute - Minute duration

hour - Hour duration

day - Day duration

week - Week duration

month - Month duration

year - Year duration

Time Calculations

Duration Conversions

Time Arithmetic

Practical Examples

Timer Implementation

Retry Mechanism with Exponential Backoff

Rate Limiting

Periodic Task Scheduler

Time-based Cache

Benchmark Utility

Best Practices

​Time

​Time Operations

​now - Get current timestamp

​sleep - Pause execution

​Duration Constants

​nanosecond - Nanosecond duration

​microsecond - Microsecond duration

​millisecond - Millisecond duration

​second - Second duration

​minute - Minute duration

​hour - Hour duration

​day - Day duration

​week - Week duration

​month - Month duration

​year - Year duration

​Time Calculations

​Duration Conversions

​Time Arithmetic

​Practical Examples

​Timer Implementation

​Retry Mechanism with Exponential Backoff

​Rate Limiting

​Periodic Task Scheduler

​Time-based Cache

​Benchmark Utility

​Best Practices

Time

Time Operations

now - Get current timestamp

sleep - Pause execution

Duration Constants

nanosecond - Nanosecond duration

microsecond - Microsecond duration

millisecond - Millisecond duration

second - Second duration

minute - Minute duration

hour - Hour duration

day - Day duration

week - Week duration

month - Month duration

year - Year duration

Time Calculations

Duration Conversions

Time Arithmetic

Practical Examples

Timer Implementation

Retry Mechanism with Exponential Backoff

Rate Limiting

Periodic Task Scheduler

Time-based Cache

Benchmark Utility

Best Practices