How often have you done something like this? -

public Result calculate() {
  long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
  Result myResult = doSomethingLongAndComplex();
  log.debug("Crunching took " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - start) + "ms.");
  return myResult;
}

It’s kind of ugly when you do it a few times and it does clutter the code. The need for defining an explicit myResult var is even more annoying. So, today, I added this to my Logging trait (see earlier post):

def timed[R](blockName:String)(block:=>R) = {
  val start = System.currentTimeMillis
  val result = block
  debug("Block (" + blockName + ") took " + (System.currentTimeMillis - start) + "ms.")
  result
}

What’s the big deal? – I hear you ask… The big deal is that I can say this in my code now:

def calculation : Result = {

  timed[Result]("calculate something") {

    doSomethingLongAndComplex

  }

}

And at the end of this block I’ll have the time in the log. Also, this block actually returns Result, so this could be the whole body of my function.