From: Kaspar Schiess <eule@...>
Date: 2009-12-17T18:51:18+09:00
Subject: Re: how to put timer on ruby

> i need a timer for the program i am writing but i don't know the code so
> please someone help me to write timer.......
> thanx for your help...

a) timeout:

require 'timeout'
timeout(4) do
   # code in here will only run for 4 seconds
end

If you look at the implementation of timeout, you will see that it is 
easy to time code using Kernel.sleep. This is however very imprecise and 
can't be used for animation loops, for example.

b) EventMachine

require 'eventmachine'
time = Time.now
EventMachine::add_timer(1) do
   puts "hello one second from #{time}!"
end

Eventmachine should allow you to do more precise timing. Your 
possibilities are of course limited by the system you run on.

greetings,
kaspar