The
bintime()
and
getbintime()
functions store the system time as a
struct bintime
at the addresses specified by
bt.
The
microtime()
and
getmicrotime()
functions perform the same utility, but record the time as a
struct timeval
instead.
Similarly the
nanotime()
and
getnanotime()
functions store the time as a
struct timespec.
The
bintime(),
microtime(),
and
nanotime()
functions
always query the timecounter to return the current time as precisely as
possible.
Whereas
getbintime(),
getmicrotime(),
and
getnanotime()
functions are abstractions which return a less precise, but
faster to obtain, time.
The intent of the
getbintime(),
getmicrotime(),
and
getnanotime()
functions is to enforce the user's preference for timer accuracy versus
execution time.