title: What is the simplest way to write a timer in C/C++?
body: <p>What is the simplest way to write a timer in C/C++?</p>
  
  <p>Hi,</p>
  
  <p>What is the simplest way to write a timer, say in C/C++? Previously I used a for loop and a do-while loop. I used the for loop as a counter and the do-while loop as a comparison for "end of time". The program worked as I wanted it to, but consumed too much system resources.</p>
  
  <p>I'm looking for the simplest way to write a timer.</p>
  
  <p>Thank you!</p>
  
  <p>EDIT:</p>
  
  <p>The program works on a set of servers both Linux and Windows, so it's a multiplatform environment. I dont want to use the unsleep or sleep function as I'm trying to write everything from scratch.</p>
  
  <p>The nature of the program: The program counts power time and battery time on systems.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT2:</p>
  
  <p>OK, it seems that this caused some confusion so I'm going to try to explain what I have done so far. I've created a program that runs in the background and powers off the system if it's idle for a certain amount of time, it also checks for the battery life on a specific system and goes to stand by mode if the system has been running on battery for a while. I input the time manually so I need a timer. I want to write it from scratch as it's a part of a personal project I've been working on.</p>